A Dragon's Prerogative
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: It's in a dragon's instincts to hoard and collect things. Most dragons prefer gold, knowledge or other rare items. Ddraig's current host apparently has the inclination to hoard PEOPLE. One thing's for sure...Albion is never going to let him live this particular host down, especially since she's dating her rival! Being the neutral party for the three factions is sure to be amusing.
1. Chapter 1

**As a special Thanksgiving present to you all, I'm posting one of the stories I've had in the drabbles for a while but never bothered to make a full story!**

**_Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating_**_ it!_

* * *

Vali was not in a good mood and it had almost everything to do with how amused that asshole Azazel was at his situation. How the hell was he supposed to know there was a teenage _girl_ in the dragon lands in the same general vicinity of the current Sekiryuutei and that she would take one look at him and fall under dragon charisma?!

Damn hormones. Damn Azazel for finding his dilemma _hilarious. _And damn his luck being so annoying that the _only_ person in two hundred miles who had any idea where the current Red Dragon Emperor was also happened to be the teenage girl with a ridiculous demand for the information.

Vali's face twitched.

"So just to be clear, if I want the information on the Sekiryuutei I have to play with you."

"Yup," chirped the girl.

"And what exactly does this 'play' involve?" asked Vali, already having a headache.

"Just try not to die or be maimed too badly that you can't play again later," said the girl with a far too chipper smile.

Wait, what?!

That was the _only_ warning Vali got before she tried to cave his head in with claws made of fire. There was a bright amber colored flame burning merrily on her forehead and her eyes seemed to glow the same color.

Azazel whistled in appreciation.

"It's been a while since I've seen Dying Will Flames used creatively like that, never mind _Sky_ flames. Try not to hurt the human girl too much," he commented.

"Wait, she's human?!" said Vali, dodging her attacks. Not even flight helped him in that regard...the orange fire allowed her to 'step' on air unaided to continue her attacks with glee. He was so calling bullshit on that!

"Dying Will Flames are only accessible to mostly humans. Only reason it's not more commonly known is because they keep getting snatched up or born into the human criminal underworld and they have some really pissy enforcers who are very strict on the secrecy thing. Once you awaken them, then you generally either end up in the criminal underground or killed off, no exceptions. Especially if you're a Sky like this little lady," explained Azazel cheerfully. "Of course there are exceptions... I bet the only reason she hasn't been snagged is because she's been living here."

Vali found himself respecting the _human_ girl a bit more than he had initially.

"Why challenge me then?" he asked her.

"Because I'm too strong for the hatchlings to play with except to practice their skills which is boring and the older ones only see my human heritage as a reason to hold back," she admitted honestly. "You have a dragon in you, and you're not really inclined to treat me like glass, hence why I was so eager to play with you."

Vali could respect that reasoning...if he had a lack of potential sparring partners to properly test his skills against, he would have gotten bored enough to challenge a complete stranger asking for something too!

A fierce smirk came across his face as he went after her with renewed intent. If she wanted to 'play' (read: beat the crap out of each other in the name of a good fight), then he would be more than happy to oblige her.

It was because his complete attention was on her that he missed the shorter newcomer who easily jumped onto Azazel's shoulder with amusement.

"It's a surprise to see you here."

"Vali wanted to fight the Sekiryuutei, but didn't think to ask what they were like before coming."

"Do you want to tell him or should we let him figure it out on his own?" commented the other figure with open amusement at that.

"Let him figure it out himself. If she's as much a battle junkie as he is then they're just as likely to end up in bed together when she's older as they are to try and kill each other," commented Azazel with glee. Vali _seriously_ needed to get laid. "So what are you doing here Fon?"

"Long story short, Ddraig managed to kidnap me and begged me to fix his mess," snorted the robed figure from Azazel's shoulder.

"Okay, I have to hear this story," said Azazel grinning wickedly.

Fon smirked.

"Some idiot went and tried to seal her flames, only it woke Ddraig up in the process. He couldn't exactly awaken without a trigger and you know how territorial dragons get...so the first chance he had, he tried to break the seal from within. Except it didn't go as planned and somehow his attempts shifted into him accidentally sending his host straight into the dragon realms where, after they got over laughing their scaly asses off at his situation, they took her in."

"I'm sensing there's more to this."

"She was barely six at the time," commented Fon.

Azazel winced at that.

"Naturally you can see how that could so easily backfire, and being raised by dragons caused her to take more after them than her own kind. So the second he found out where I was and that I was alone, Ddraig managed to convince her to kidnap me without any warning and bring me here and practically begged me to re-teach her how to be human since it would be far too dangerous for her to convert to dragon without some sort of buffer...such as being turned into a devil or an angel, for instance. Once I realized what she was, I agreed to help...it really didn't hurt that she has a natural knack for my preferred form of fighting and was an enthusiastic student," said Fon serenely. "Or it could have been the amusement factor of having to hear _Ddraig_ explain what puberty is to his host when she was more in tune with dragon maturation cycles which are entirely different."

Azazel snorted at that with open amusement.

"Looks like they're about wrapped up," he commented.

He had to hold back his amusement when, after Vali _finally_ managed to pin the girl down, she seized her chance and kissed him on the lips. He could see from where he was standing that her eyes were slit like a dragon's.

She might not have made the full conversion, but some parts of her were no longer human.

Vali's expression was _hilarious_, to say the least...and the look on his face when Azazel calmly asked him "So how do you like the current Red Dragon Emperor?" had him breaking down laughing his ass off.

"Wait. _She's_..."

Azazel nodded, and Vali had this look on his face that the Fallen leader would treasure forever. Mostly because Fon was quick enough to catch multiple pictures of it on camera.

Vali eyed the tiny robed figure on Azazel's shoulder.

"Who are you?"

"Fon!" said the girl happily, scooping up the small man in red to cuddle with.

"He's from the human faction of the Triads, a neutral enforcer. Seven poor bastards get cursed once every thirty-five years or so into toddlers in order to maintain some balance," clarified Azazel. "Never really believed that to be honest, and I suspect some god or another got it in their head that the war between the three factions caused an upset in the natural order and is trying to correct it with a flawed system."

"That would explain so much. Ryuhime, did you wear yourself out?" asked Fon with open concern.

"I'm out of practice," she admitted, yawning.

Vali _almost_ felt guilty, but to be honest it was the most fun he had in a while. The fact she managed to hold her own until he pinned her _without_ the crutch of her Sacred Gear had caught his open interest.

"Well, since you're the one who wore her out, you get to carry her to whatever den she's made."

"Wait, _what_?" squawked Vali indignantly. Then he blinked at the odd wording. "Den?"

"Dragons live in dens, caves and other places where they can stash their hoards and hostages. As she has been raised for quite some time as a dragon hatchling since they had no idea how to raise a human child, she has picked up more than a few of their habits. However due to the fact that she is still quite young by even human standards and because the older ones aren't used to training humans for prolonged periods of time, her ability to defend a proper den has stagnated considerably. The fact she is exhausted means she won't be able to chase of any challengers for her temporary home," explained Fon from her arms. "She has mostly made due with taking shelter in areas too small for any dragon of age to challenge her for it to bother with."

With how arrogant dragons could be, those old enough to live on their own or even thought they were often targeted her first if they found her. She had gotten used to moving around multiple dens until the pecking order settled every time the general season it happened arrived.

While she _could_ fight using her Balance Breaker, her ability to get around was severely limited and most of the older dragons barely tolerated her presence to begin with. It was easier to slip around unnoticed until she was strong enough to prove her right to be there.

Vali grumbled at the amusement Azazel had about the entire situation, but scooped up the positively tiny girl into his arms. Fon settled back on Azazel's shoulder.

He would adamantly deny the blush on his face when the girl settled into his arms and ended up falling asleep without any fear or hesitation at all. Vali glared at the Fallen for smirking at the situation he was in.

Upon reaching the den (which was barely bigger than Azazel's apartment and had a narrow opening), he quickly put the girl down on the rather small 'nest' which had her curling up into a ball to retain warmth. The dragon lands was mostly covered in snow, as their internal heat allowed them to live in the almost inhospitable plains.

Fon covered her up with a nearby blanket, and she snuggled closer with a happy smile on her face.

"Any particular reason why you didn't tell me it was her?" demanded Vali.

"You didn't bother to ask what the current one was like before you all but demanded to fight them," said Azazel. He grinned. "Besides, you got a kiss from a very cute girl out of the deal."

Vali glared at him.

"So now what?"

"I would not be adverse to you showing up regularly to 'play' with Ryuhime," said Fon. "I am literally the only _human_ interaction she has since Ddraig refuses to open up a Dragon's Gate to where he took her from until the idiot who sealed her is found and eviscerated."

"Any idea who it is?" asked Azazel curiously. For Ddraig to have _not_ killed whoever pissed him off, the fool must be very well hidden. Or too annoying to get at easily.

"I have a few ideas," admitted Fon.

"...Would you be adverse to her coming with us?"

Mostly for the fun of seeing her around Vali. The kid had been getting more uptight and bitchy since he hit puberty.

"Considering who the boy is, not just yet. I am afraid that it's still too soon for her to return to 'society', especially since her habits are too deeply ingrained to readily get rid of. And there's the not-so-small issue of the fact that because she was taken from home so young she has almost no idea how to handle modern society or the social norms. Never mind how to use technology," said Fon, shaking his head.

Azazel rubbed his beard.

"And if we were to get her slowly acclimated to being around humans again?"

"If you could help ward a den properly against being found by outsiders it would help considerably. She's had to move around a lot and slowly letting her get used to others would do nicely."

"And I bet you know the perfect area, don't you?" said Azazel smirking at him. "Or you made one."

Fon didn't bother to deny it.

"I may or may not have been planning to introduce her to my grandson when I realized the rather difficult issue of her clashing with him over perceived territory. Kyouya is almost as bad as a dragon when it comes to a potential rival," admitted Fon. "However he might tolerate her presence long enough to become her first proper Guardian if I could trust that some fool wouldn't figure out that she's a Sky and attempt to kidnap her. The last thing she needs is a meeting with the Vindice because of how she was raised."

While he had little doubts how _that_ would end, he worried about how the Vindice would react to her Sacred Gear or the fact she had limited experience being around humans.


	2. Chapter 2

Vali's eye was twitching, there was no other way to call it. Azazel, in his infinite ability to troll others, found this absolutely hilarious but was able to keep from cackling at Vali's irritation. However he didn't stop himself from grinning.

"Explain to me why the Red Dragon Emperor is in my lap instead of trying to cave my head in."

Fon was openly smirking, though he hid his amusement almost as well as the Fallen leader.

"Do you know what season it is in the Dragon lands?" asked Fon.

"No."

"It's currently _mating_ season. As the little dragon is almost of age for her hormones to demand she find a suitable male, the pheromones in the air are almost enough to drive her stir crazy. And it really doesn't help that none of the male dragons in the realm will even look her way."

"That doesn't explain why she's in my lap."

"She likes to be around others, and your lap is warm?" suggested Fon grinning. Vali scowled. "In all seriousness she likely finds your scent appealing, that or she's using Albion's scent to cover up the smell of pheromones. Just don't try fighting outside...you're more likely to draw in the younger, hormonal dragons down on you looking for a fight and piss off the older ones."

"What about relocating her to the den you made?"

"It's not ready yet," said Fon. "It barely has a bed and an entrance."

Azazel rubbed his beard.

"Exactly what are you planning to add that you need help with?"

"I'm trying to acclimatize her to 'human' standards, rather than the rough way she's been living for years. I would barely qualify her dens as livable as it stands now...most of them have a bare nest and not a bed," said Fon bluntly. "Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to wire a _cave_ for electricity?"

Azazel snorted. Then an evil, evil idea occurred to him.

"What do you have planned, you old crow?" demanded Fon.

"Just imagining the hilarious image of Serafall corrupting the little dragon to the magical girl genre and then seeing the lower ranked devils trying to turn her into one of their pieces only to get their asses kicked by a magical dragon girl."

Dead silence, before all three males looked at Ryuhime and then imagined her in a magical girl costume and kicking around several devils using her superior fighting skills.

Fon had an even better idea.

"Albion, if you agree not to bitch too much about the possibility of your host falling for Ryuhime we'll introduce her to Serafall so you can hold it over on Ddraig that his host kept wearing a magical girl costume while using his powers," said Fon without hesitation.

Apparently Albion was listening.

**_'Agreed. This is too amusing _not_ to put aside my rivalry with the Red Dragon. He'll never be able to live this down,'_** said Albion from within Vali.

He could stomach the idea of his host mating with the Red Dragon Emperor's current one if it meant having untold amounts of future blackmail over his rival. Even if he had to wait a few hundred years for them to switch over to new hosts, it would _still_ be worth it.

Ryuhime snuggled up against Vali a bit more. He was very warm. Vali twitched and wondered why exactly he agreed to this.

"You know you never did explain how exactly she kidnapped you if she can't open a gate," said Vali.

"She didn't... one of the older dragons did and they made sure she didn't get lost. Ddraig followed my scent, had her grab me without any warning whatsoever, and then they high tailed it back through. Once I stopped laughing at the predicament that oversized lizard caused, I agreed to help...took me a week before I realized my fondness for Ryuhime was actually a sign of something else."

And that only because of the training accident which had nearly given _him_ a heart attack when he realized the implications of it.

"So is Ryuhime her real name?" asked Vali, unaware that he was petting her hair like a cat. If she were capable of it, she would be purring... as it was she completely curled into his side and relaxed.

"Not really. It's just one of the more common nicknames that she has. Generally speaking you just have to ask about a 'dragon-girl' and most of the dragons know exactly who you're talking about even if they don't recognize the name you're calling her. I've heard her called 'Chibihime', 'Himeno', 'Spitfire' and 'little Sky' on top of Ryuhime," said Fon. "Coincidentally I've only heard Ddraig speak once or twice since he kidnapped me... I suspect he's Sky drunk and sleeping it off, or waiting for a decent opponent to show up that actually requires his help. Most of the idiots that come here looking for a fight generally get their ass handed to them by Ryuhime because the dragons find it hilarious to see her toss them around."

Vali smirked hearing that.

* * *

"Yo, Serafall," said Azazel lazily.

"What do you want you dusty old crow?"

"I have a proposition for you that's sure to amuse more than one faction," said Azazel, not bothering to hide it.

"What kind of proposition?"

"The kind that lets you corrupt a very adorable girl to the wonders of the magical girl genre and a rather large amount of blackmail on a familiar face," said Azazel.

Serafall blinked.

"What?"

Azazel grinned and stepped aside reveling a cute caramel-haired human girl with slit eyes like a dragon and a face that had Serafall internally squealing at how adorable she was. It didn't help that she had this "confused kitten" expression on her face.

"This is Ryuhime, and she's a bit shy now that she's out of the Dragon lands."

"Wait... is this the same _human_ girl that I've been hearing about when some of my faction come back to complain about getting their asses kicked by a kid while trying to get a dragon familiar?" said Serafall intently.

"Yup," said Azazel grinning.

Serafall squealed.

"She's cuter than the rumors said she was!"

Azazel could already tell he had the current Leviathan hooked. Now to go for the kill.

"Her Storm Guardian suggested we send her to you to get her used to being around humans, or at least people again. There are a few conditions though."

"I'm listening."

"You can't introduce her to Sirzechs or send her to Kuoh. Sona can meet her, but she can't become an Evil Piece," said Azazel flatly. "Fon was very, very clear that he would only agree to this so long as she stays _human_ for the most part."

Serafall blinked.

"Why not Sirzechs?"

"Because of Rias, mostly. Or to be more specific Fon is concerned that he might try to push the little dragon towards his sister so she has an ace in the hole when it comes to that jackass of a fiancee of hers. You know how he spoils her and this is just the sort of thing she could use to get out of that contract. Ryuhime is far more useful as a neutral entity that the three factions can use to deliver messages and act as a third party who can't be tied back to us later," said Azazel.

Much like Fon was a neutral entity among the Triads, he wanted Ryuhime to become a neutral party among the three factions. Azazel happened to like the idea so much that he agreed to help the Red Dragon Emperor adjust back to human standards. Mostly. The fact it came with the entertainment value of seeing Vali potentially fall for the girl who was _supposed_ to be his greatest rival was a highly amusing bonus.

That she could fight Vali to an even match _without_ her boosted gear was a major perk, since it meant that he had someone he could send in to deal with certain situations without having to deal with the annoyance that was politics. He was sure the Devils and the Angels could use someone they could discreetly send in to deal with issues that they couldn't deal with personally because of political factors.

"So let me get this straight... you want _me_ to train this cutie and possibly corrupt her to the magical girl genre. However Sirzechs and Rias can't know about her because of Riaser. What are you planning?" asked Serafall slowly. Because there are too many benefits for her to accept this sort of deal at face value.

"Fon wants to introduce her to his grandson, but can't because her experience around people is next to nonexistent and she's not really used to technology. That plus it's going to be hilarious watching the dragon girl kick someone's ass dressed up in a magical girl costume, so long as you avoid getting her hooked on those dumb speeches about love and friendship," said Azazel immediately. "Besides, this means we'll cut you in on the potential blackmail that might come if the current White Dragon Emperor falls for her like we suspect he will."

"What, _what_?" said Serafall gaping.

"The current White Dragon Emperor is about a year or so older than she is and he's already displaying interest in her as a female because she was able to kick his ass _without_ the use of her Sacred Gear. Albion might even go along with it, since it means he can blackmail Ddraig about it later...though for some reason the Red Dragon hasn't really been active lately...we suspect he's asleep," said Azazel.

Serafall's eyes gleamed.

"I'll do it, for the blackmail and the amusement of seeing a dragon girl kick some arrogant snot's ass while wearing a magical girl costume!" said Serafall gleefully. This was too entertaining to pass up, and the girl was such a little cutie!

"I really don't like this idea much," said Ryuhime nervously.

"Relax. Serafall can be a bit...flaky ("Who are you calling flaky you damn crow?!") but she has a soft spot for kids. At worst she'll treat you the same way she does her own younger sister," said Azazel, patting her head.

Ryuhime was too cute to be mean to. It would take a serious asshole with an ego not to fall victim to her aura, and that was long before dragon charisma came into play. Or worse, her boosted gear.

Azazel had to hold back a cackle at the look on Ryuhime's face when Serafall promptly shoved the girl's face into her chest with a massive hug. He took a few photos to share with Fon on his phone...the two of them had gleefully decided to tag team the younger generation for shits and giggles, so long as Ryuhime was never hurt in the process, of course.

* * *

_Some time later..._

Ryuhime took one look at the series and was hooked. Then again Serafall had decided to introduce the girl to one of the more 'bad ass' magical girl series, if only so the little dragon would annoy the hell out of Azazel to make her a weapon from it.

Especially since _Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha_ was so yuri-heavy. The potential for amusement was too high to resist, and unlike Sona, Ryuhime didn't take herself nearly so seriously.

"...So just to be clear here I can get an entire wardrobe full of outfits like that?" she asked, pointing at what Hayate was wearing.

"That would totally suit you!" gushed Serafall. "Though the wings might need to be decorative unless you can make your own."

"I can make wings, but it's easier to run on the air than manifest them," admitted Ryuhime.

"Let's see what they look like, if only so I have a color scheme to work with past orange," said Serafall seriously. Because this girl was one of the rare, rare few who could pull that particular color off and not make people want to gouge their eyes out.

Seeing the red and orange color scheme, Serafall grinned. Clearly Ryuhime was an autumn or a summer...which she could work with.

The wings were fairly impressive, and if she hadn't known the girl was only thirty percent dragon she would have suspected her to be a dragon in human form.

The 'webbing' of the wings were pure Sky Flame, and the outer parts were all heavy red scales much like the Boosted Gear's balance breaker mode. There was armor plating that ran the length of her spine and a bit across her back, protecting it.

"...Exactly how much of your body is dragon anyway?" asked Serafall curiously.

"All of my extremities, my bones, throat and lungs," admitted Ryuhime. "According to Ddraig so long as I never convert to angel or devil, even if I converted my entire body into that of a dragon my soul would still register as 'human', since dragonfire only amplifies Dying Will Flames, rather than replaces it. Apparently Wrath flames are really a natural byproduct of someone who has human/dragon heritage."

"I can get the throat and lungs, but why the extremities and bones?"

"I fly fast, and by converting both arms and legs into that of a dragon I can do this..." Ryuhime flexed her hands and feet, revealing sharp talon-like claws made of fire and dragon scales, "Without the need of activating my Boosted Gear. By converting my bones I can withstand the forces that are generated by supersonic flight and converting my head meant it wouldn't be crushed in battle... Dragons are notorious for being thick headed and it doesn't help that they like to bash their skulls together while playing in order to toughen them up further."

If anything the new appendages just made her look like she was wearing scaly gauntlets and boots that happened to have fire talons on them. The effect was seriously cool and gave Serafall all sorts of costume ideas to use them.

The Maou grinned widely.

"We are going to have so much fun coordinating your costumes!"

On earth, Sona had a deep feeling of foreboding... She had the distinct feeling something terrible had happened involving her sister and that damn hobby she had. Fortunately, it didn't seem like this particular doom was aimed in her direction for once.

* * *

"Hey Serafall, I heard you got a new apprentice to train," said Sirzechs pleasantly.

"Nuh-uh, you can't have her. I have specific orders to keep her far away from you and Rias," said Serafall, wagging her finger at him.

Sirzechs blinked.

"Away from me and Rias?" he repeated.

"Considering what I found out about little Ryuhime, I can understand why. She's too useful as is," said Serafall cryptically.

"You make it sound like she's a human," joked Sirzechs.

"She's the dragon girl who's been kicking the ass of anyone attempting to claim a dragon hatchling as a familiar recently," deadpanned Serafall.

Dead silence.

"And you've been told to keep her away from me and Rias."

"This coming from the same man who's been in the market for mutated Pieces to give to his sister?" said Serafall raising an eyebrow. "Ryuhime might solve her problem, but she's far too useful as a neutral third party to deal with that arrogant twit Riaser."

"Where did you find her anyway?" asked Sirzechs, not bothering to deny the fact he would have nudged her to his sister in order to get Rias out of that damn contract.

"Azazel," said Serafall.

"Azazel. As in the leader of the Fallen faction."

"Her Storm Guardian wants to introduce her to his grandson, but can't do that until she's used to being around humans again. She's a bit too feral to attempt it," said Serafall.

That and it had taken her a week to figure out how to use a simple tablet. Which was probably the biggest reason Fon hadn't simply tossed her into the deep end. She's stick out like a sore thumb and draw the devils to her or worse. Never mind the issue of her being a battle junkie and completely unused to humans at this point.

It had taken Serafall that entire week for the girl to get used to _her_ being there!


	3. Chapter 3

Micheal, head of the Heavenly Faction, had a bit of a problem. Now one might wonder what it was that he couldn't simply fix by sending one of the angels or dealing with it directly.

The fact was that the 'problem' was a young nun who had the misfortune of being caught healing a devil with her Sacred Gear, thus risking exposure of the fact that God was no longer alive. She was a good, devout girl who didn't deserve to be excommunicated, but they had enough trouble keeping the system up as it was.

At best she would be hidden away to keep practicing her faith in secret, much like a caged bird. At worst she was a target for the Devil faction to turn into an evil piece.

So when he heard multiple rumors of Serafall Leviathan training a young Sky child who amazingly enough belonged to the dragon faction (which automatically meant neutral unless she was converted to one of the other three) with room for new Guardians, he couldn't believe the luck.

Especially when he confirmed it was actually _true_ through an unlikely source.

Azazel had openly grinned when Micheal inquired about her...which had confused him until he found out why.

This "Ryuhime" was the current Red Dragon Emperor and there was every sign she might end up dating her rival, rather than the general automatic hatred most of their hosts seemed to develop. The fact Vali's human heritage made him very susceptible to her Sky Charisma made it easier. While he would never become a full Guardian, it did mean that he would be more inclined to consider her a friendly rival that he just happened to sleep with, rather than someone he needed to kill.

Which meant Micheal had a choice... he could either hide Asia Argento away like a caged bird, or he could nudge her towards the Sky girl and hope for the best. Even if she did end up a criminal she wouldn't be barred entry from heaven if this Ryuhime accepted her as part of her Sky.

Mind made up, Micheal at least gave Asia the dignity of making the choice for herself.

_Some time later..._

Asia was praying as she usually did when she received a vision. Her shock was so great it took her several moments to gather herself and properly welcome lord Micheal.

"_It's alright my child. While there is nothing I can do about what happened, I can give you two options concerning your future from here," _said Micheal gently.

Asia stared at him in wonder.

"_The first would see you in seclusion, with only a select handful of people to visit you but you would still be surrounded by others of the faith and allowed to heal. The second would have you potentially becoming a criminal, but you would have more freedom and you wouldn't lose your entry into heaven unless you fully lost your way or became a Devil yourself," _said Micheal.

"I don't understand lord Micheal. How can I be a proper nun if I become a criminal?"

"_I'm sure you've heard of the mafia, correct? There's a select subset of the criminal underworld that uses special fire. You would be bound by secrecy, but no one would care if you still practiced your faith. There was another priest who chose to help his friend that had one of the rarest fires, and he was still allowed into heaven despite some of the sins he committed."_

Which wasn't entirely true...not all of Knuckle made it into heaven, but for the sake of argument it was enough.

Asia thought long and hard.

"Would...would I be able to make friends?"

"_Those who have the special fire are a close knit group. If you were to join them they would protect you as one of their own, and you might be able to guide those who would have otherwise lost their path," _said Micheal smiling.

Dragons were particularly protective of their own. And from what little he had seen of this Ryuhime, she considered "people" part of her hoard rather than gold or power.

Asia didn't want to disappoint Lord Micheal.

"I... I would like to make friends. Being kept in seclusion is far too lonely," admitted Asia.

"_Are you sure?"_ asked Micheal.

She nodded.

"_Very well. I'll alert certain parties and get things rolling. Try not to be too startled when it happens,"_ said Micheal cryptically.

He might not have much interaction with dragons personally, but he knew they had certain protocols they followed in regards to 'hostages'.

Case in point, they were known to kidnap female virgins and hold them for ransom. If none were paid, then the girls in question were held in their protection indefinitely until someone rescued them and they were promptly married off.

All he had to do was arrange for an opening and give this Ryuhime a head's up on where to find her, with the agreement that she take Asia under her care. It also meant she would have free reign to deal with any devils attempting to claim the nun from her.

He highly doubted a devil got _that_ close to Asia Argento by coincidence.

* * *

"He actually contacted you and asked if you could help arrange a kidnapping," said Serafall in disbelief.

"Apparently some devil got close enough to the holder of the Twilight Healing and they had to excommunicate her when she healed him. Micheal heard about Ryuhime and figured he might as well make use of a neutral faction with Sky Flames and allow her to keep her faith without her turning into a devil. So he wants to exploit the whole 'kidnap the female virgin' protocol from the really old days and have the ransom left unpaid indefinitely with the hopes that Ryuhime harmonizes with the girl as her Sun," said Azazel. "At the very least while she won't be able to stay in the church she can still practice her faith as a mafioso."

"Wow. I didn't know that old cliché was still practiced," said Serafall impressed.

It slipped past all sorts of red tape and gave Ryuhime a powerful healer on her side for free.

"What cliché?" asked Ryuhime.

"The whole 'dragon kidnaps virgin until hero saves her' one," said Azazel.

Ryuhime rolled her eyes.

"The only reason no one bothers to practice it these days is because finding an _actual_ virgin that will shut up and behave is damn near impossible. Not to mention the headache of keeping them in one place, because they inevitably try to escape on their own or get accidentally eaten," said Ryuhime flatly. Azazel snorted at that. "The old protocols for ransoming a princess are still in effect too, but most of them are whiny brats and it's such a pain to find one that isn't ancient. Never mind that most of the dragons young enough to go that route to increase their hoard are never taught how to open a gate for just that reason. And by the time they are old enough to figure it out, they have a decently sized hoard already and the effort needed simply isn't worth it."

"That explains so damn much," said Azazel. "So Ryuhime, how would you like to kidnap a nun with permission from the heavenly faction?"

"Say what now?" she said baffled.

"A nun with a Sacred Gear healed a devil without knowing what he was and got kicked out. Micheal has decided he'd rather lose her to a dragon than risk her being turned into a devil, since devils would have to get past whoever is holding her for ransom before the evil pieces would even take," explained Serafall.

The dragons didn't care about the evil piece system, but they wanted to make sure that the old protocols weren't ignored so that clause was added into it to shut them up.

"So... I'm being asked to kidnap a girl indefinitely with a useful sacred gear. I'm sensing a catch here," said Ryuhime dubiously.

"Micheal just doesn't want to lose her to Devil faction and being a criminal is a kinder fate than being locked away for the rest of her life. At least as one of your Suns, she can still be a nun and have friends," said Azazel.

That cemented it in Ryuhime's books. She was rather lonely and having a permanent "hostage" did sound almost fun.

"When and where? Bear in mind I have to clear this with the older dragons so they can insure proper protocol is followed."

"You have to clear it with the dragons?" asked Azazel.

"You have your traditions and we have ours. Besides they found it hilarious when I temporarily kidnapped Fon and this would kill their boredom," said Ryuhime.

Micheal was so relieved that once Ryuhime cleared it with some of the older dragons they began preparations immediately. They would open a dragon's gate a few miles out (with how fast she flew it would only take a few minutes to get there) and he kept the priests in charge of moving Asia firmly out of the loop of what was really going on.

She only knew that someone unusual would be coming for her in red, and that was it. She had no idea Ryuhime was given a photo of the nun in question to avoid mistakes.

What they were unaware of was that there was another party just waiting for Asia to be moved so they could claim her themselves.

And they were about to run headfirst into the 'dragon party' with no idea of how badly boned they were.

* * *

It was supposed to be a simple 'kidnapping'. Go in. Scare the daylights out of the clergy and kidnap the Sacred Gear user.

Simple. Easy. No headaches involved.

So why in the name of all things shiny and valuable were there _Fallen_ here?!

"Fuck! No one said anything about a dragon being here! What the hell does the Red Dragon Emperor want with the ex-nun anyway?" said an irate male Fallen.

"Shut up Donaseek. Clearly he's following the old protocols regarding virgins and planning a kidnapping," deadpanned another Fallen. That outfit _barely_ covered up her assets.

"I thought that crap was made up?"

"More like fallen out of favor," corrected the female. "Hard to find virgins worth stealing anymore with how much the girls get around these days."

"...Point."

"So dragon, what's it going to take to make you look the other way?" asked the female.

"I'm being paid to kidnap her."

And by that Ryuhime meant that Micheal was going to discreetly leave a large sum of currency in her accounts that Azazel had set up to pay for Asia's upkeep until Ryuhime had managed to amass a decent enough hoard of her own. While it was unusual, it was still acceptable for those who arranged said kidnapping to pay off the dragon to insure a certain level of comfort until the 'hero' made their grand entrance and removed the hostage in question.

What little wasn't spent was often left for the dragon to keep as payment...though considering the high standards some princesses had it was easier to simply pay the hero and let them suffer a bit of frugal living until they were rescued and married off, rather than pay the dragon.

Asia was a nun. She had a set standard that was ridiculously easy to maintain, and Micheal had paid Ryuhime a large sum of money that could last her several lifetimes. A one-time deal that more than made up for the headache of going through the old protocols.

That being said, none of them expected a third party to try and steal her first.

"_Well this is entertaining,"_ said the dragon escort.

"... Can we agree that you'll watch over the girl in question until a clear 'kidnapper' is selected between us? The last thing we need is another party showing up to try and claim the girl on top of the Fallen," asked Ryuhime politely.

The Fallen exchanged a look with each other.

"...Winner gets the nun?" asked the female.

She nodded.

"Very well. I am Raynare."

"Sekiryutei,"said Ryuhime, nodding in exchange. They really didn't need much more of a description than that, as the holder of the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing tended to make themselves known in a very public manner once they got going.

However the current pair were being relatively quiet, which meant they were either unaware or still very young.

Raynare and Donaseek expected this to be a relatively simple fight. After all, the current Boosted Gear user was tiny as hell and sounded very young. They suspected the kid had only recently awakened their Sacred Gear and was trying to make a play for the nun so they could have an ace in the hole when they made a name for themselves.

Easily enough to dispatch, even if the kid had lucked out and managed to figure out how to achieve a balance breaker within a few months.

Oh, how the Fallen would regret that assumption.

Raynare was coughing up blood and Donaseek was a complete mess with half his feathers blasted off.

"By the way, I'll be sure to tell Azazel why it took longer than expected to carry out a simple kidnapping," deadpanned the brat. "I'm sure he'll be very interested in why two of his faction were trying to claim a nun when he gave no orders to do so."

"...Fuck," said Raynare. If the brat knew who Azazel was, then there was a very high chance he'd find out about this cluster fuck before they had a chance to get the hell out of dodge.

Asia took one look at the red-scaled figure and timidly went with them, being carried off princess style. Her confusion was evident, but she held onto the trust she had in Micheal's word that she would be safe.

The massive dragon flew off, once it confirmed the girl had been successfully 'taken' by the younger dragon. The protocol had been followed, more or less, and that was all it cared about.

So imagine her surprise coming face to face with a girl about her own age with wide amber colored eyes and gentle disposition, once they passed through the gate.

"Um..."

"Call me Ryuhime," said the girl. "Micheal paid me to remove you from the Church so that you could at least have some protection while practicing your faith and still be a nun."

"Lord Micheal paid you to kidnap me?" said Asia in surprise.

"That devil that got you thrown out of the clergy? There's a fairly high chance it was a set up specifically to get to you because of your gift. Micheal wanted to be sure that you at least had some say in what happens in your life, which is why he took a risk and asked me to kidnap you following the old protocols. The clergy can't bother you while you're my 'hostage', the devils can't force you to become one of them, and it means I have full permission to eliminate anyone trying to reclaim you by force if you don't want to go with them," said Ryuhime bluntly.

This was one of the reasons Fon wanted her to get used to being around others again. Her manner was entirely too blunt when she wasn't in a playful mood and she wasn't about to beat around the bush when it came to the truth. Even if she could have softened the blow a little to make it easier to take.

Asia's eyes were wide with shock and confusion. Ryuhime sighed.

"Look, there is a high chance you were deliberately targeted for your ability. Getting you kicked out lowered the number of people who would help protect you, and Micheal simply chose the lesser of many evils so that heaven didn't lose one of it's devout followers. He'd rather make you a hostage indefinitely than allow you to be tricked into becoming a devil, because then you wouldn't even be able to pray without large amounts of pain simply because the system won't allow it. At least now you have a chance to remain true to your faith and potentially help others do the same and still get your freedom," said Ryuhime with as much gentleness as she could manage.

"Um... what do I do?" asked Asia.

"The main thing is that you can't leave a designated area when we switch dens. This is mostly for your protection, since if you leave the area there's a high risk of you being captured and or eaten. If you want a trip to the outside world, just ask and I'll escort you. If you want something specific like new clothes, food or even a new bible, let me know...Micheal paid me really well to insure you at least had something close to a life and are well kept. Odds are that when I finally enroll in a school, you'll join me with roughly the same schedule. If anyone asks you're living with me because your guardian asked my family to take care of you," said Ryuhime.

Asia squeaked at the being eaten part.

"Um... why did you kidnap me?"

"Long story short it wasn't uncommon back in the dark ages for dragons to kidnap young, influential virgins in order to ransom them and add to their hoard. Especially the younger dragons just starting out. Since they moved to another plain it fell out of fashion but the protocols still exist if one of them wants to try it. And since dragons are a neutral faction then the devils, angels and fallen have to respect when they've taken someone for ransom or deal with the bitching of the elder dragons. Considering the damage two of them did during the great war between the three factions, no one wants to spark a new conflict over a single hostage so long as the dragon is sufficiently strong enough to deal with anyone attempting to remove said hostage from their territory," shrugged Ryuhime. "That...and because I have Sky Flames there's a chance you might end up bonded to me on a spiritual level, which would make you part of my 'group' and therefor unavailable to any of the three factions unless I allow it."

"Sky Flames?" asked Asia, tilting her head.

"Micheal mentioned a special fire, right?"

Asia nodded.

"They're called Dying Will Flames, a special power only humans can access. So long as I have them, I'm automatically considered a human regardless of how many dragon parts I have. Sky Flames have a particularly interesting characteristic in that they allow you to gather those of similar power levels as your own or close to it and bond with them on a spiritual level. This is called 'harmonization' and it's pretty close to a spiritual glue. Now because of certain factors, most Flame users are part of the mafia or get dragged into it. Do you know what the most prevalent religion is in the mafia?"

Asia shook her head. At least Ryuhime's explanation was somewhat easy to follow.

"Considering how a good chunk of the mafia or 'Cosa Nostra' is in Italy and it's close proximity to Rome, most of them are by and large Catholic or at least pay lips service to it. In fact there was once a priest among the biggest famiglias in Italy back when it was first starting out," said Ryuhime.

Asia lit up at that.

"Lord Micheal did say there was a priest that became a criminal but was still allowed in heaven because of his faith," she brightened.

"So it's not completely hopeless. You just have to adjust to new circumstances," said Ryuhime smiling a little. She was getting better at it! Serafall's ridiculous antics were working!

She was still complaining Azazel about those idiots almost ruining a perfectly good plan and a chance to improve her rather limited hoard gold!


	4. Chapter 4

It took Asia all of three days to realize that while Ryuhime seemed confident, on the inside she was far more skittish and nervous than the nun was around humans.

Put her around a dragon and she'd play fight with the best of them. Put her around someone in her own age class and she had absolutely no idea how to react.

Fortunately they were both socially awkward, so it was a nice learning experience for them.

Though Asia would admit to staring when she saw the tiny 'child' with the bright red pacifier and white monkey.

"Hello there little one, what's your name?" she said kindly.

"Fon!" said Ryuhime with relief. She scooped him up for a cuddle, which he bore with long patience.

Asia found it strange to be sitting at a table drinking tea with a man bearing a rather unusual and unfortunate curse, but Fon was very nice and very polite. And his monkey was adorable.

Lichi fell in love with the gentle nun who kept feeding him dried fruits.

"So this young one is your potential Sun Guardian. She seems very capable," said Fon in Italian for Asia's benefit. Ryuhime could speak it, but she still needed a lot of practice to be considered properly fluent in the language.

Asia knew he was complimenting her but she had no idea what about.

"However I would recommend getting another Sun that's a bit more...combat ready. Asia looks like she is firmly a support and healing specialist and it would be unwise to put her in a real fight without a defender," said Fon.

"I agree," said Ryuhime. She had mentally pegged Asia as a support specialist herself. She didn't have a mean bone in her, and that meant she would be unlikely to take any offensive action unless absolutely necessary.

And heaven forbid she do any serious or permanent damage to someone. No, Asia's place was firmly _away_ from the front lines to anyone with sense.

"Um...this curse, does it hurt you?" asked Asia slowly.

"It causes a lot of strain, but thanks to Ryuhime it's a lot more bearable. I'm still waiting for the best time to spring the fact that I might have a potential solution to it."

Fon _could_ feel the curse weakening after that training accident. Whatever it was that Ryuhime was doing with her Sacred Gear, it was causing an interesting side effect on the pacifier. However it did nothing for the accumulated damage he had taken while under it.

He might look young, but he felt very old indeed.

"Maybe... I could give my healing a try?" offered Asia.

Ryuhime looked at her, then at Fon.

"It's worth a shot. At the very least you'll be well rested."

Asia brought out her special rings and concentrated the energy around Fon. The _second_ it touched him, he went almost completely boneless with relief. It was a good thing Ryuhime was holding him because he hadn't felt this relaxed in a long while.

A lot of old aches and pains he had learned to either ignore or deal with melted away, leaving relief.

"...Are you actually purring?"

Fon looked sheepish.

"Maybe?"

"That is beyond cute," said Ryuhime. Asia clearly agreed to that sentiment, because she looked very much like she wanted to cuddle with Fon too. With a hint of mischief and far too much time spent around Serafall Leviathan, Ryuhime plopped a pair of black cat ears on his head before cheerfully handing him over to Asia.

Fon gave her an annoyed look, but didn't protest. Mostly because he could see that it was helping Ryuhime to bond with Asia.

"What would you two say to a day trip to Namimori?" asked Fon.

Now was as good a time as any to test the waters when it came to Ryuhime's behavior around humans. And if she had a relapse, then the den they had managed to get fixed up was ready enough to move into.

Asia perked up at the suggestion, while Ryuhime just looked skittish.

"I will be with you the entire time, and the den there just needs one last inspection before it's ready for you," said Fon soothingly.

Throw Ryuhime into an intense battle and she would come out swinging, and with any luck win.

Toss her in the middle of a populated area with judgmental humans and she would flinch. Badly.

"What if we brought Vali along?" asked Fon.

"He wouldn't go for it," said Ryuhime. It was a hit or miss deal whenever he visited. Sometimes he'd be fine being around her, other times he was pissy as hell and only settled down after they fought.

"I'm fairly certain he would if he knew what was there. Kyouya's been quite bored and he'd probably enjoy a proper fight against a fellow carnivore."

Kyouya would definitely get a kick out of fighting Vali and it was a good test of his strength. And with Asia's Twilight Healing, he could fight both of them and still have energy left over.

Fon knew the boy only needed one good push before he went Flame Active. With any luck he might become interested enough in Ryuhime that he would bond to the girl as her Cloud.

* * *

Ryuhime took _one_ step in the city and hissed.

"You didn't tell me it was a claimed territory!"

Fon blinked, then remembered what he was dealing with.

"Kyouya's main territory is the school he attends. The rest could be considered hunting grounds and he won't care so long as he can test himself against you and Vali," said Fon.

"And Asia?"

"Is safe because she has a puppy vibe and is clearly a noncombatant. Kyouya doesn't go after them and is more likely to be protective of her because of the small animal vibe she gives off," said Fon bluntly.

"So is your grandson strong?" asked Vali.

He had agreed to come to get away from Azazel for a bit. The man was being a total pain in the ass about the 'date' he had with Ryuhime.

Fon had a few ideas of how the trip would go. He knew it would likely end with Ryuhime or Asia being overwhelmed and them staying in the newly formed den outside city limits. It was set in a cliff face and was very difficult to scale normally, so it should be safe from casual _human_ visitors.

For the most part it went exactly as planned.

Ryuhime and Vali agreed to 'play' with an interested Kyouya, separately of course, outside city limits. Since Ryuhime seemed to be holding up for the most part, they decided to explore Namimori a bit until she grew tired.

That was when they ran into her.

Kyouya normally didn't pay much attention to the Sawada family. All he knew of them was that the oldest child had disappeared without any warning whatsoever shortly after turning six and a lot of fake carnivores had come in to find out what happened. Including a man that had made his skin crawl that claimed to be the mother's husband.

A year later they disappeared and the most pathetic protection detail he had ever seen showed up. After establishing his dominance, he had lost interest in them entirely as they learned their place.

So seeing Nana Sawada take _one_ look at Ryuhime and got absolutely still in shock was not what he was expecting.

Fon eyed the way the woman was staring at Ryuhime, then remembered what little he knew of the girl's history before she landed in the dragon lands.

Iemitsu had lost his oldest child when she was roughly six, according to Lal and Reborn. He had spent quite a few years looking for her before giving up.

Ryuhime had appeared in the dragon lands when she was very young, barely six at the most. And now that he was looking for it he was beginning to see more than a passing resemblance to the woman before him and the girl holding him.

Nana seemed to shake whatever had hit her with some difficulty, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that it had rattled her deeply.

Ryuhime had a very confused look, like there should be a connection between her and the woman...but none was being made.

Fon didn't like how the ends were beginning to line up. However it made far more sense than it didn't.

Sky Flames were normally inherited, and if nothing else he knew Iemitsu was a Sky. A very poor one, but still a Sky. And the time frame _did_ fit, more or less considering it had taken a full month before word reached him about his child's disappearance according to Lal.

And Fon was fast enough to get a DNA sample from the man's wife to confirm what he suspected.

Which really begged the question... if Ryuhime was a Vongola then who on earth was stupid enough to try and seal her? If it were an enemy they would have either killed her or tried to raise her to go against the Vongola and seize power from the rather pathetic heirs that were in line to become Decimo.

The resemblance to Vongola Primo couldn't possibly be a coincidence, which made that title her birthright. He had always found it suspicious how similar Kyouya looked to Alaude save for the hair and eye color, or how the son of the Assassin who had retired looked far too much like Asari Ugetsu reborn. And don't get him started on that boxer he had only seen in passing who could have passed for a white-haired Knuckle.

It was almost like events were in motion to bring the bloodline of the Vongola Primo out of hiding.

Except he had genuine doubts that whatever set it off expected something as ridiculous as a pissed off Ddraig removing Ryuhime from her home and having her raised as a dragon.

He still found that semi-hilarious.

Ryuhime clearly had enough of wandering, which was why she was about to head to the general area of her potential new den.

Only to find herself being carried on the back of Vali.

"What..."

"You're exhausted and in no condition to fly. Never mind that the den doesn't even have proper lighting yet. Besides, this means we get to play with him in the morning," said Vali.

"I could..." started Asia, only to wilt slightly at his look.

"Save your energy for tomorrow. All she needs is a bit of food and rest and she'll be ready for a good fight," said Vali.

Asia didn't like the mention of fighting, but at least she knew Ryuhime wouldn't drag her into it.

The next morning Ryuhime was up and ready to 'play' as she called it. Coincidentally so was Kyouya, who was more than happy to indulge her.

"Now remember Hime, you have to keep it within human limitations until Kyouya gets used to fighting your style," said Fon.

Considering Kyouya could tell she had a lot of power inside her, he didn't complain about the fact she was going to be restricting herself to _human_ limitations.

"Once Kyouya's Flames go active then you get to play with yours," said Fon.

"Okay!" said Ryuhime happily.

She was always tempted to call Fon "papa" because he was the closest thing she had ever had to one.

Kyouya didn't give her any prior warning...he dove right in, which was fine with her.

Ryuhime was grinning wildly...who knew regular humans could be this much fun?

By the time lunch rolled around, Kyouya was panting heavily but had a wild grin on his face, and Ryuhime was smiling widely.

Asia dutifully healed over any bruises and pain for Kyouya, since Ryuhime waved her off. She had seen hints of purple and indigo spark against Kyouya's weapons, and had high hopes he'd go Active soon.

When it was Vali's turn...he didn't hold back as much. Kyouya didn't seem to mind, even if he found Vali's Sacred Gear beyond annoying to deal with.

* * *

_Later that night..._

Vali waited until the girls were in the kitchen, busy learning the finer arts of cooking from Fon.

"Are you aware that monogamy is a mostly human invention?"

"...What?"

"I saw how you were looking at Ryuhime earlier," clarified Vali. "I thought you might be interested to know that outside of humans, the other factions don't really put as much emphasis on the idea of only having one mate. In fact it's not uncommon for dragons, devils or even Fallen to have more than one boyfriend or girlfriend, regardless of what gender they are."

Kyouya was silent.

"Are you saying I would have to share her?"

"I'm saying that while you might have to share her with more than one person, you don't have to share the time you spend with her," said Vali bluntly.

Kyouya was silent. Ryuhime did interest him as a female, if only because she could not only match him when it came to power but the fact she considered their knock-down drag out fight as "playing" without even batting an eye.

"You're interested in her as well."

"She's the only female within my age bracket who can actually give me a decent fight, and supports my goal of defeating an even older dragon as a way to test my skills," said Vali. "Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to find a girl who can not only fight, but won't be extra clingy when it comes to the idea of a relationship?"

Kyouya _did_ know. The last time he was introduced to a girl his own age that could actually keep up with him, she had royally pissed him off within a month with how she kept crowding him. She seemed to think she had exclusive right to chase anyone who got between their 'fated love' or some other nonsense she had in her head until he had enough...and proceeded to beat her black and blue.

Fon had not been happy, but he also hadn't been very surprised. Kyouya had a limit to what he would put up with and she had blown right through it.

Ryuhime though... she understood his instinct to defend his territory and was very polite about her behavior while she was in it. He had noticed her odd reaction when Fon brought her to the room he had claimed for his office, and how she only relaxed when he gave permission for her to be there. It was very gratifying for a carnivore like himself to have a superior carnivore respect his turf.

And she was the opposite of clingy, if what Vali said was true. He could live with sharing the superior carnivore so long as he didn't have to share the bed with another male at the same time. Female wise...he'd have to see who wanted to join in.

Fon had apparently overheard what the discussion was about if the look on his face was any indication.

"Just so we're clear, I will ship the two of you if you decide to pursue her. She would be a good match," said Fon.

Kyouya grumbled.

"So having multiple boyfriends is normal for dragons?"

"So long as they're of a respectable strength in comparison to the female, yes. Multiple mates increases the chance of having strong progeny, and it's not unheard of for the females to produce multiple eggs."

"Eggs?" repeated Kyouya baffled.

"To put it in more 'human' terms...if and when Ryuhime gets knocked up there a very high chance she'll have twins or more at the very least...with a possibility of the children having more than one father," said Fon dryly. "She was so freaked out about the maturation cycle that human females go through...specifically the fact that they only last up to thirty or forty years rather than save the eggs for later, that she converted her womb into that of a dragon's. Coincidentally that was around the time Ddraig realized he screwed up and brought me in, so she didn't do anything even more drastic."

"...That explains so much, like why she never complained about cramps or other common annoyances," said Vali.

"However as a side effect her mating cycle is on the same time frame as a female dragon's, so if you go near her within the next season she's quite likely to jump you," said Fon.

Vali paled hearing that.

"_**You do realize the dragon princess views you as the closest thing to a father figure, don't you?" **_commented Albion.

Fon blinked.

"What?"

"_**The girl's scent is subtle, but very clear how she feels about you. She sees you as a substitute father figure, rather than a potential mate,"**_ said Albion.

Fon waited until after dinner before confirming Albion's comment. Being called "Papa" by Ryuhime made him smile widely. He had never realized that he considered her a daughter of sorts until then.

He was still shipping her and Kyouya though.


	5. Chapter 5

Fon was already calling Azazel and Serafall. As Ryuhime's "official" contacts with two of the three factions (he had the feeling Asia would be selected as Heaven's representative) they deserved to know what he had found out.

It was certainly a headache.

"_So you found out who her birth family is?"_ said Azazel.

"She's a Vongola. Of the Primo's line, to be exact. The second they find out who she is they're going to try and make a play for her," said Fon tiredly. "It really doesn't help that two of the sons are dead, the third one is too weak to properly hold the family together and the fourth is of questionable heritage at best. They might even try to marry her into the main family, to keep her from attempting to claim her birthright."

Silence...then...

"_Yeah, I can't see _that_ idea ending any way but badly,"_ said Serafall dryly.

Ryuhime was _barely_ able to pull off 'normal' by human standards. She would never agree to be married off to a human far weaker than she was, and it would only end in a bloodbath. Add onto the fact they'd expect her to play housewife at the very least, and things would only get messy in a hurry.

"Pretty much the same thing that tends to happen when the 'male' Varia assassins get married off for political reasons and then need help with the clean up of their former husbands," said Fon dryly. "Which is why if anyone asks then the Varia is a 'boys only' club."

"_So what do we do now?"_

"We play keep away for now. You did get the system ready for her to set up, didn't you?" asked Fon.

"_Yeah, I got it ready. She just needs to put it together and she'll have a network to travel between dens, basically turning them into a 'multi-room mansion' between realms," _said Azazel.

"_And I got the amulets that will act as the keys between the doors!"_ chirped Serafall. _"I can't wait to try this out. If it works then I can see my little Sona more often!"_

Azazel and Fon coughed. Odds were that Sona would be more than happy to dump the bulk of Serafall's affection on Ryuhime the first chance she had, once she knew it was an option.

"It's truly a pity we can't simply place Ryuhime in Kuoh," sighed Fon. "Then the Vongola wouldn't be able to harass her even if they_ did _find her without going through the devils first."

"_Why can't we?"_

"Because Ryuhime has a rather large heart and she might agree to act as one of Rias' pieces the second she learns about Riaser," said Fon with a grimace. "Her or Asia, and that would only bring an untold amount of trouble."

Azazel, on the other end of the 'phone' rubbed his beard.

"_Serafall, remind me again the terms of that contract the Phenex clan made with the Gremorys? I might have a way to get around that little issue and make Sirzechs owe us all big time."_

Serafall grinned...then again she _was_ a Devil, and the idea of Sirzechs owing her was an appealing one.

"What are you planning?"

"_They call Rias the Crimson Haired _'Princess' _of Destruction, right? And she hasn't had any boyfriends since she moved to the human world..."_

"Ryuhime already has a hostage. She can't take a second one until Asia bonds with her as one of her Elements, or Micheal turns her into an angel and makes her Ryuhime's contact with heaven," said Fon.

"_I was thinking of Vali, actually. He's still considered a 'dragon' even if he's technically part of the devil faction. What better way to 'prove' himself worthy of Ryuhime as her 'official' boyfriend than to hold Sirzech's sister hostage until the contract is made null because the idiot failed one too many times to reclaim her?"_

"_Oh that is _perfect_! The dragons are neutral, so the Phenex clan can't claim Sirzechs set this up to free his sister, especially since he won't actually be _in_ on it!"_

"If I remember correctly, there was a pair of dens that were a bit too close for most dragons to bother with since it's a bit too small for any of the mated dragons to turn it into joined territory. However if we outfit it properly, then it would work perfectly as a shared territory and give Vali and Ryuhime their own separate 'apartments' that just happen to be within flying distance of each other when they want some space. Plus, if Ryuhime moves there, then if Riaser comes to reclaim Rias and she chases him off instead for intruding on her turf, then he'll have absolutely no grounds to stand on since she's a _human_ member of the dragon faction! I can't imagine the idea of Riaser getting his ass handed to him by a mere human going over well with the pure blood devils," said Fon with dark glee.

Serafall wasn't the only one cackling at the thought. Azazel found the idea of that arrogant brat getting his ass handed to him by the petite Ryuhime hilarious.

"Wait, what?" said Vali incredulous.

"There's a shared territory you and Ryuhime can claim that comes with dens that are within flying distance of each other. They're too small for most mated dragons to bother with, but they'd be perfect for you two," said Azazel.

"No, I got that. What I don't get is why you want _me_ to kidnap the sister of the man who took over my father's place as Lucifer!"

"It's part prank, part favor," said Azazel. "Rias has a betrothal contract with a rather arrogant prick of a devil from the Phenex clan. And unfortunately Sirzechs can't get rid of it for political reasons."

"What's that got to do with me?" asked Vali snidely.

"I'm getting to that. We both know Rias might be able to convince Ryuhime into becoming one of her pieces, which would screw her over long term. It's the main reason we can't simply send her to Kuoh to get the education she needs in the human world. However...there are a few ways that an outside party can use to break the contract."

"Still not seeing the point," said Vali growling.

"Fine. Break the contract and not only will Sirzechs owe you big time, but you'll be able to use it to grow a decent enough hoard to be able to 'court' Ryuhime as a fellow dragon."

"_**...He has a point you know. It's not enough for you to be able to match her in a fight, not among dragons. If you don't have a hoard of sufficient size then she might not even date you,"**_commented Albion.

Vali was not happy.

"There's also the fact that if we can clear up the issue with the contract, then Ryuhime's _human_ family can't bother her as easily."

"What?" said Vali.

"Fon found out who her birth family is. And if they find her there's a high risk they might try to marry her off to someone far weaker than she is, or to one of the remaining heirs to insure she doesn't try to make a bid for the 'throne' so to speak. She's one of the remaining heirs, and the only other two in front of her are either too weak or have a questionable claim on the titles."

"...So I just have to kidnap the big boobed twit?" asked Vali.

"Kidnap and hold her hostage for a period of at least three to four months. And if you take over that shared territory with Ryuhime, then she can legitimately kick the moron out when he tries to claim her in order to up the wedding date. If he fails to retrieve her one too many times, then the wedding is off. Especially if it's _Ryuhime_ who kicks his ass. This whole thing is more for political reasons than anything else."

Vali was not happy.

"Look at the bright side. After the first two weeks you can make an 'offer' with Sirzechs that allows you to use Ryuhime as your 'proxy' to bring Rias to and from the den from the school. She can't visit her little clubhouse, but at least then you won't have to keep watching her twenty-four seven."

"Ugh. Two weeks with the sister of that jerk. Remind me again why I'm even considering this?"

"Sirzechs will owe you big, and it means Ryuhime can gather her Elements-slash-hoard without having to worry about her birth family bothering her without giving us warning first. Anyone who tries to remove her without going through the two devils in charge of the place are fair game to be taken out in a permanent manner," said Azazel bluntly. "Besides, this will give you a lot of standing with the dragon faction so no one will bat an eye if you date Ryuhime."

Vali clearly didn't like it, but if it meant being able to do something nice for Ryuhime and opening up the chance that she'd date him later, he'd put up with it. It was only until the contract fell through, after all.

"So how is it part prank?" he asked finally.

"Sirzechs and Rias will have absolutely no idea what's really going on until after the fact," said Azazel grinning. "This is both to make it easier for us, since they'll treat it seriously, and because this way the pure blood faction can't claim Sirzechs was in on it from the start and possibly invalidating the entire thing."

"And Ryuhime can't do it because she has Asia, until the nun turns into one of her Elements," grumbled Vali.

"Hence why we're dumping you and Ryuhime in an area that can easily be converted to shared territory. Besides, this way you two can have separate 'apartments' when you don't want to be around each other."

Vali had to admit, the idea was somewhat appealing. While Ryuhime wasn't exactly _clingy_, every once in a while he enjoyed being on his own.

* * *

The territory was nice enough, and if the caves were a bit bigger he could easily see why a dragon would occupy it. However trying to enlarge it would be too much trouble as the walls might collapse and render it pointless. The territory itself wasn't very big, but it was semi-plentiful when it came to food. Not enough to sustain a dragon old enough to have a mate, but for Vali and Ryuhime it was perfect so long as they didn't over-hunt.

"So how exactly do we claim this as shared territory anyway?"

"_**It's simple enough. Just set up shop to where it's considered 'livable' and then defend it from any takers for at least a month. If no one can claim it from you in that time frame the territory is considered 'taken' until another dragon takes it from you,"**_ explained Albion. **_"Dragons don't like to bother with politics and paperwork when it comes to territory. So long as you can protect it, it's yours. Much simpler than what the other three factions have to bother with."_**

"I suppose when you have to deal with idiot dragon adolescents fighting over turf and having to change areas a lot, you wouldn't want to bother with an overly complicated process either," mused Vali.

He spotted Ryuhime flying over to the other 'den' and getting started right away.

"So how do I make this place livable anyway?" asked Vali. It wasn't like he spent much time in the dragon realms to know the protocol for this sort of thing. On the plus side, he could easily see this place becoming his own little sanctuary from the rest of the world if he did it right.

Albion was silent.

Vali flew over to where Ryuhime was already at work.

"Need help setting up?"

"I've never held a territory before," commented Vali.

"Well for a first territory it's acceptable to 'rough it', at least until you've become established in the area. You just need something to sleep on, a place to store food and water, and any hoard if you have it."

"So...basically enough to camp out for a month," said Vali.

"What's camping?" asked Ryuhime, tilting her head.

"Essentially what you've been doing until recently," said Vali. "If that den I first saw was any indication anyway. Never really saw the appeal of it."

"Oh."

Vali didn't really have much to move in. A simple mattress, a cold-storage area made with a bit of magic, and some jugs of bottled water. There was also a lot of books and a few electronics, but that was the majority of his entertainment.

He planned to spend most of the time scouting out the cave system he noticed and exactly how much territory there was that they were claiming together.

Ryuhime surprisingly finished first. Then again she wasn't going to bother adding the 'door' system Azazel and Serafall had helped to make to the den until the month was over.

"So...take turns scouting the area or investigating the cave systems?" asked Vali.

Ryuhime nodded.

"Since this is shared territory, we can spar a bit on the side so long as we don't leave the area. It's a good thing Kyouya agreed to act as my proxy for Asia, because you're not really supposed to have hostages during a territory claim. It's very distracting."

Vali perked up at that.

"Really now."

Ryuhime grinned.

"Want to play with our Sacred Gears for a change?"

The expression on Vali's face said volumes. He had been wanting to see how good Ryuhime was with her Sacred Gear for a long time, but they never had a chance to play.

Ryuhime summoned her Balance Breaker, and Vali unleashed his. This was going to be _fun_.

_Outside the territory..._

Those capable of feeling the power flying through the air took one look in the direction it was coming from and decided not to bother with it. They could tell from the 'feel' that it was the red and white dragon emperors 'playing' much like young hatchlings would, rather than a serious fight. There was also an undercurrent of potential 'interest' between them, which meant that they might try to court each other rather than attempt to kill each other this go around.

Considering they heard a rumor that the White one was going to try and court the Red as a dragon, that meant they were likely going to take the shared territory in that area.

Which meant they were likely playing to kill time at the moment.


	6. Chapter 6

Rias never saw it coming, and to be fair she only really calmed down when she pissed off the Sacred Gear user enough that he explained quite bluntly what was really going on.

All she had to hear was that if she agreed to play hostage for a few months, then the wedding that had been hanging over her head for far too long would be dealt with. There was even the agreement that she could continue her education, once the proper protocols were followed.

That being said, she was quite bored.

So it was only natural that she would try to find the odd red thing in the distance, which occasionally flew in and out of a cave just within eyesight of the one she was staying in.

She was not quite prepared to come face to face with a girl a year or so younger than her wearing a very _familiar_ magical girl outfit.

Somehow she couldn't help but feel Serafall had a hand in her wardrobe.

"So you're his hostage," said the girl, tilting her head.

"I'm sorry... you are?"

"Ryuhime. Are you are bored as I am?"

"Are you a hostage too?"

"Not really. I claimed the cave across the way and I already have a hostage. However Asia and I are having an anime marathon so we can corrupt and make her a proper otaku so I figured I might as well ask. I know far too well that he doesn't have much in the way of entertainment here."

Rias was clearly interested.

"Which genre?" she asked, perking up.

"Magical girl. We're starting with _Slayers_, before moving on to _Mermaid Melody Pichi Pitch, Cardcaptors _and _Tsubasa Chronicles_," said Ryuhime with a chirp.

Rias grinned.

"Not _Sailor Moon_?"

"Too unrealistic. It's all fan service and ridiculous speeches about love and friendship. The main character really needs to grow up a bit more to be more interesting, and they should have really let the other Senshi kill a few monsters or two," said Ryuhime.

Which was pretty much the reason why Serafall didn't bother with it. As much as she was a fan of the Magical Girl genre, the whole concept had come a long way from the days when Sailor Moon was the only one being aired.

When Vali came to check on his prisoner, he only had to hear the arguing from across the way to figure out where Rias was.

On the plus side, this would save him a lot of headaches in keeping the annoying red head out of his hair. On the downside he had to pretend he was at least keeping up the pretense of holding her hostage for it to be taken seriously.

He flew over to Ryuhime's cave, where his future girlfriend was having a rather intense and heated debate about different magical girl series and which one was better...while poor Asia was blushing at the thought of wearing some of the costumes.

Ryuhime was slowly wearing her down about getting out of her habit sooner rather than later.

* * *

"Did you take my hostage?"

"Come on Vali... you don't have anything to do in that cave of yours and it'll be another week before you can contact Sirzechs to pay you to make things easier."

"I didn't know that the dragons still kidnapped people," said Rias.

"It fell out of favor with people getting around more, and with the monarchy going out of style," said Ryuhime.

Rias blushed at that. She refused to give Raiser the satisfaction of having her virginity...was it her fault that boys worth her time were almost impossible to find?

Ryuhime patted her on the shoulder with an amused glint in her eyes.

"Relax, you're among other virgins," she said with humor. "Asia here is a former nun and there isn't exactly a lot of humans in dragon territory within the right age range. And the less said about how anti-social Vali can be, the better."

"Oi," said Vali annoyed.

He was not a virgin, but the method Azazel used to _insure_ that much had pretty much turned him off dating.

Sometimes it sucked living with a glorified man-whore of a Fallen. The sheer amount of heckling he had to deal with from that asshole more or less killed his libido.

Ryuhime grinned at him.

Vali wanted to swear. The things he did to get a decent girlfriend, even if he had to share her with others. At least Ryuhime had decent standards and was more than happy to go from fighting to the bedroom.

To say Sirzechs was pissed about the whole thing was an understatement. However he couldn't exactly fly in an retrieve his sibling... the protocol was pretty clear on what happened _after_ the "princess" was retrieved from dragon lands and while he was a sis-con, incest was absolutely not one of his kinks.

And as the "betrothed" of Rias, Riaser had to be the first to attempt a rescue.

Something he was taking his sweet time in doing, the brat.

* * *

_Two weeks later_

Rias had to admit, being a hostage had it's benefits. Even if she couldn't spend a lot of time with her new friends Ryuhime and Asia without making Vali look bad.

Or rather Ryuhime had to fly over with Asia to have proper anime marathons. The odd girl and Rias were hopeful to have Asia in a maid outfit soon, rather than the boring habit, even if it did suit her.

She had to admit it was fascinating learning so much about dragon culture!

She was about to get a drink from the mini fridge Vali was able to install after her brother sent money to "improve" his sister's upkeep while she was his hostage. And then she felt it...that aura that made her want to go into the shower to wash herself until she was red all over, not just her hair.

By the Maou, she hated Raiser!

Rias almost let her fury at the situation she was stuck in take over her better senses.

And then she heard something that made all her rage and hatred of that creep die a shocking death.

The sound of Raiser screaming like a little girl. It took her a few moments to get to the first viewpoint she could find, but when she did she saw something that had her mouth drop...before an unholy cackle filled the air.

Raiser had run afoul of Ryuhime.

Now Rias really had no idea how exactly a human could live so easily in dragon territory without getting eaten. Originally she suspected it had a lot to do with the fact the girl had those odd flames that humans developed in intense situations.

What she saw now though had her throw out any thought of the girl being just another human.

She would recognize a Sacred Gear anywhere though finding out the cheerful, if battle obsessed, Ryuhime was the current holder of the Red Dragon Emperor was a bit of a shock.

Considering she knew for a fact that her 'captor' was the current incarnation of the White Dragon Emperor, the fact they were living on a shared territory was very surprising. Weren't Albion and Ddraig supposed to be enemies?

Ryuhime came to the cave looking rather pissed off.

"Is that overgrown puffed up chicken the guy you're supposed to be betrothed to?" she asked bluntly.

"Unfortunately," said Rias.

"Would anyone overly mind if I castrated him? He took one look at Asia and some of the comments he made tell me that doing so would be doing the world a favor," she said twitching.

Rias' grin was positively angelic, which coming from her was pretty damn evil.

"By all means, but only if you don't mind recording it for a few others to watch."

Ryuhime grinned. She came back with a video camera and handed it to Rias.

"Just make sure he doesn't get his hands on you long enough to leave the marked territory. You saw the lines we made, right?"

"Oh I plan to abuse the heaven out of the zoom function, don't worry," said Rias.

Ryuhime flew back out, and Rias happily recorded every moment of Raiser's suffering. He had it coming for a very long time, and with any luck he would heal wrong.

Rias happily waited with popcorn for Ryuhime to return. The arrogant Phenex had left with his tail between his legs, after Ryuhime kicked his ass.

"Won't Vali get into trouble for you chasing him off?"

"He made it clear he was also interested in Asia, and this is known as 'joint-territory'. He only gets six more tries before any claim he has on you is nullified... Raiser only got first crack at you because he's your betrothed," said Ryuhime dismissively.

Rias' heart nearly stopped hearing that.

"Are you telling me if he fails to 'retrieve' me from your boyfriend my engagement with him is called off?!"

"You didn't know?" said Ryuhime in surprise.

She had known exactly why Vali had taken Rias, despite hating her brother quite deeply for the fact he had taken the original Lucifer's place.

The look on Sirzechs' face when he heard that the engagement could be called off because Raiser couldn't retrieve his sister from Vali was rather hilarious.

Since Raiser would have only six more chances to retrieve Rias, Sirzechs' was rather quick to 'donate' even more money to Vali's growing hoard to keep her there. It was more than most lower ranked devils would see in three years put together.

Vali had to admit, this little trick was proving well worth the headache of doing the current Lucifer a favor...especially since Rias was more than willing to stay out of the way and was more inclined to 'visit' with her fellow hostage rather than make him spend any time around her.

It wasn't unheard of for hostages to bond together until their 'rescue', and the fact Ryuhime made sure Rias knew when the time limit was up kept the older dragons from bitching about it, if they bothered to notice at all.

Though Rias had to admit her favorite attempt was when Ryuhime dragged Raiser to the border of the shared territory where some older dragons were watching the show (it was boring in the dragon lands, and this was quality entertainment) and made certain to kick Raiser's ass well within their hearing.

It only took a few poorly made comments about the superiority of phoenixes to dragons and how the creatures were all 'jumped up winged lizards with crappy flames' to piss off the older dragons.

Ryuhime happily threw his sorry ass into their vicinity (past the border) and let the older dragons instruct the idiot devil in the error of trying to make himself look better by insulting creatures older, stronger and far more violent than he could ever be.

That fool's pleas for mercy made Rias feel warm and fuzzy at night.

* * *

This was it, the last attempt. Rias was positively giddy and enjoying every moment of Raiser's misery.

Perhaps it was somewhat petty of her, but that asshole had been making her life a nightmare since puberty hit him and he managed to grow his own harem through his Peerage. She refused to become some playtoy for that bastard just because the older devils didn't want the pure lines to die out!

"Pass the popcorn," said Ryuhime, and Rias did so with glee.

Since Vali was the one who kidnapped her, he had to be the one to defeat Raiser for the final attempt.

The idiot was likely cursing the fact he wasn't allowed to bring his peerage with him to rescue her...such attempts were to be made solo by the old laws.

Raiser didn't stand a chance in heaven against Ryuhime who wasn't even taking him seriously at the time, and he certainly didn't stand a prayer in hell against Vali who was rather pissed off that the jumped up pure blood devil was the reason he had to go through this farce in the first place for Ryuhime's sake.

That...and the fact that the mating season would be starting soon and he had high hopes that this little performance would earn him a lot of brownie points.

Albion snorted in his head, but kept silent. The amount of blackmail he could use against Ddraig once they switched users again for this incarnation was more than worth keeping any issues he had about them dating!

Seriously, he merely had to ask the girl to do several ridiculous poses while in Balance Breaker form and she did it! With pictures and video evidence!

Though he could completely understand why she didn't do any speeches. There was such a thing as 'a step too far'.

Ryuhime and Rias felt great glee watching Raiser get his ass handed to him by a less than amused Vali, who promptly opened up a dragon's gate and punted the arrogant ass right through it.

By this point _everyone_ knew about the fact Rias had been 'dragon-napped', and the dragons made every attempt by her 'fiancee' to retrieve her well known along with the general conditions of her return.

Now all Sirzechs had to do was give Ryuhime and Asia a free ride into Kuoh, a significant bribe to Vali's hoard, and the acknowledgment that the current Lucifer and the house of Gremory owed him for the safe return of their princess.

There were times when having a 'princess' hostage simply wasn't worth it. Hence why there were also protocols to simply hold them for ransom if they became too much of a headache to deal with.

Vali looked decidedly grumpy, which was why Ryuhime smirked and whispered something in his ear.

That made him perk up, and Rias didn't have to be a mind reader to guess what Ryuhime had told him.

* * *

Rias was very giddy at the fact the two would be joining her at school, albeit in different classes.

"I promise not to pester you or Asia into my Peerage and not warn Sona beforehand that her sister corrupted you to her hobbies if you agree to help get me and my peerage up to snuff combat wise," said Rias to Ryuhime.

"I'm sensing hilarious blackmail," said Ryuhime, eyes sparkling.

"Serafall and my brother are Sis-cons, and Sona is often embarrassed when her sister visits. I want to have multiple recordings of her reaction to the fact you've copied some of Serafall's habits regarding the magical girl genre."

Because the realization the new students had been corrupted by her older sister?

Sona's reaction would be both hilarious and priceless!

Ryuhime cackled with glee.

"I demand copies," said Vali. Rias gave him a thumbs up.

Sirzechs waited two weeks before paying off the agreed upon "ransom", and Rias cheerfully went back to school...but not before getting her hands on several cameras to record Sona's reaction to Ryuhime.


	7. Chapter 7

Vali had to admit, if he had known the amount of amusement to be had from a heavy make out session with Ryuhime, he would have done it much sooner. Especially after the rather distinctive hickey she gave him to mark her claim.

It started innocently enough with his on-again off-again roommate and stray Devil, Kuroka, who saw the hickey and the smug grin on his face.

Her reaction was rather hilarious.

"No way... You got _laid?_ How? No, better yet, who topped, you or your new boyfriend?"

"For the last time I am not gay!" said Vali irate. "And for your information I topped Ddraig's new host, who is a female!"

Kuroka was on him like white on rice.

"Details, leave nothing out!"

Vali had another plan. If for no other reason than to get the damn cat out of his hair for longer stretches of time...besides, he knew for a fact Ryuhime and Asia had a thing for cats.

"I'll do you one better and introduce you to Ryuhime on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You agree to get blackmail photos and video of the reaction the Chaos Brigade have when they find out I've got a girlfriend and agree to share them with me."

"Deal," said Kuroka, eagerly.

Vali opened up a dragon gate. She bounded through it without a second thought, and came face to face with Ryuhime trying to convince Asia into some magical girl cosplay.

"Who are you?" said Ryuhime suspiciously. She had thought Vali was coming for the next round...since they had lost track.

"I'm Vali's roommate Kuroka, and I've come in search of girl talk," said the cat simply.

"...Standard girl talk or details about how much he knows about bedroom activity?" asked Ryuhime seriously.

"A bit of column A, but mostly column B," said Kuroka without hesitation.

"Asia, do you feel comfortable talking about that or would you prefer to visit Kyouya while I drag in Rias?"

Rias had bonded with her rather easily over a love of anime.

Asia blushed.

"Um, I would rather visit Kyouya again. I don't know why, but his friend Kusakabe was openly relieved to have me around for some reason."

Likely because Asia's presence had the rather unusual side effect of providing a calming element to Kyouya's personality. She gave off a major "small animal" vibe and a sense of innocence that was hard to find.

While she tolerated fighting, she hated seeing others hurt, so Kusakabe would shamelessly suggest places Kyouya could take her around to enjoy that wouldn't be too crowded.

Kyouya might be interested in Ryuhime as a bed partner, but he was still highly protective of Asia...in the same way an older brother would be overprotective of an adorable, and highly naive younger sibling.

The girl was like a cute, pure bred puppy. The kind that could get into all sorts of mischief and get away with anything with just a slap on the wrist because she was both adorable and so utterly naive.

It amused Kusakabe to no end watching people have heart attacks whenever Asia got Kyouya to stop biting people to death with a cute pout. It was like they expected him to go after her next.

Kuroka's gleam did not bode well for the faint of heart.

"Ah...maybe we could hold off on calling Rias?"

Because she would absolutely tell Shirone that she had run into her older sister, and that might end badly.

"...Would Serafall work instead?" asked Ryuhime.

"Is she the one who got you hooked on magical girl shows?"

"Yup."

"Absolutely. I want to enjoy Vali's expression seeing you in some of the more provocative outfits that don't look like skimpy sailor fuku out of _Sailor Moon_," said Kuroka, eyes gleaming.

Within minutes Serafall was in the den. She took one look at Kuroka, then at Ryuhime questioningly.

"We may need advice later in how to help Ryuhime seduce Vali and so I can get blackmail on him for having a magical girl fetish," explained Kuroka.

Serafall's grin was rather worrying.

"I am completely fine with that, so long as I get details."

Asia was lucky she escaped that particular girl talk. The poor nun would have fainted if she had been present.

On an unrelated note, Serafall was able to get Kuroka _mostly_ off the "wanted Stray Devil" list by having her labeled as a familiar for Ryuhime. It was unusual, but not unheard of for a dragon to take on a familiar, but usually it was a smaller dragon species that amused them.

If she was the 'kept cat' of a known factor, like the Red Dragon Emperor, then she was Ryuhime's problem. She was still an evil piece, but now they wouldn't have to waste resources trying to capture her.

It wasn't perfect, but it did cut down on the headaches.

Besides, this mean Kuroka could possibly drop in and visit her little sister unannounced, which Serafall was entirely all for.

* * *

Rias was particularly eager to have Ryuhime and Asia in the school. Then again Sona had absolutely no idea what she was in for.

All the younger sister of Leviathan knew was that two very valuable Sacred Gear users were coming to attend normal school, even if they were considered off-limits by order of Serafall and Sirzechs.

A trusted neutral faction that wouldn't favor any side and could hold their own was far too valuable as is. Especially when they could be hired to do discreet jobs that were impossible for one faction or another due to politics. Never mind the fact that Ryuhime was on good terms with several very high-up members of the three factions.

Sona was rather confused as to why Rias was even in the room when she had the discreet meeting with the two Sacred Gear users (mainly to insure they didn't start anything, since they knew how to use them and already knew of the supernatural).

At least until Ryuhime grinned and went into a pose that made Sona's heart fill with dread.

No...oh dear Maou NO!

"Sparkle, shine, your wish is mine!" she said, complete with magical staff that was entirely too familiar for Sona's comfort.

Sona's head whipped to where Rias was trying desperately not to laugh. She glared at her accusingly.

"YOU KNEW?!"

"Who did you think got Ryuhime, a girl who's lived with dragons since she was six, up to speed on how to pass for 'normal'? Azazel of the Fallen basically dumped her on Serafall for a year and a half before she kidnapped Asia for her Sun," cackled Rias.

Sona looked horrified.

"By the way, Levia-tan says hi," chirped Ryuhime, enjoying Sona's misery.

So was Akeno if the amused and delighted look on her face was any indication.

Ryuhime looked inordinately amused by Sona's misery.

"By the way, I have absolutely no issue being thrown under the bus as a distraction for Levia-tan so you can make your escape. Besides, we're still trying to get Asia used to wearing some of the more tame outfits!"

Sona looked like she had been handed the world's best out.

"So why are you really here?" asked Sona, having a monumental headache.

"Because my Storm found out which famiglia I belonged to, and the easiest way to insure I maintained my neutrality to act as a free agent for the Three factions was to have me come to Kuoh. It's very boring in the dragon lands, you know," said Ryuhime immediately.

"And the reason you're known as the dragon princess?"

"I'm the current Sekiryutei, and my official boyfriend has Albion," said Ryuhime.

Sona tried and failed to figure out how _that_ worked out. Weren't the two supposed to be mortal enemies?

"Please keep any fighting between you off school grounds and out of Kuoh. And which one are you?" asked Sona to Asia.

"Ah... I have Twilight Healing. Officially I'm her hostage."

Sona blinked.

"The kidnap a virgin nonsense is still a thing?" said Sona.

Rias grinned and nodded.

"Got me out of that stupid contract with Raiser," she commented.

Sona stared at her.

"That's why you were missing for two and a half months?!"

"I spent most of it binge watching anime I hadn't gotten a chance to see," said Rias pleased. "And I got a cute pair of little sisters out of it!"

Ryuhime had a 'Victory' sign when Rias hugged her.

"Though your Rook is going to be pissed when my new familiar starts showing up. Serafall was all for encouraging another Sis-con to stalk their baby sister around, even if she's mostly doing it to mend the bridges she ruined," commented Ryuhime.

Rias paused at that.

"My Rook or one of Sona's?"

"Kuroka has agreed to act as my familiar so she could get taken off the Stray Devil list. Apparently there was a legitimate reason she went apeshit on her 'master'," chirped Ryuhime. "Unless you think assaulting an underage girl when you already have her older sister under your thumb is acceptable."

"What."

Rias wasn't the only one to speak in that flat voice. Sona, Akeno...pretty much every girl in there did too save for Asia.

"According to Kuroka, her master was going to rape her sister simply because he could, and none of the Devils would do anything to stop him. Naturally as a good older sister she would never allow that to happen, so she killed him even though it meant she would be classed as a stray devil. She wasn't expecting her sister to get into so much trouble for her what she did though, so she's rather glad you took her in," explained Ryuhime patiently. "She would like a chance to make amends to Koneko though."

Rias had a rather interesting reaction to that revelation. She knew Koneko had a lot of unresolved issues with her sister, so if Kuroka had a genuine reason for what she did it might go a long way to healing a few bridges.

* * *

Issei was eagerly awaiting the entrance of the two new students to their class. Both of which were girls!

The first to walk in was Ryuhime, though no one had any idea what her last name was. She had amber colored eyes and a very cute face. Her bust was a decent size, roughly a high B or mid C cup with a figure that said she wasn't one of those idiots who thought eating less made them 'prettier'. She had round hips and an aura of mischief around her that made it impossible to turn his eyes away from her. She had caramel colored hair that had several dark tints that almost looked like highlights. She wore the odd corset that was available to the girls, though Issei could never really figure out who came up with that idea. Her hair went down to her waist in curves and only made her even more attractive as they emphasized her figure, rather than obscured it.

In other words a total hottie, even if her Oppai wasn't on the level of the two Great Ladies.

The girl next to her was a bit meeker, but no less cute.

Asia Argento gave off a very 'genteel' feel, and had waist length blond hair and very pretty green eyes. Unlike Ryuhime, who felt like a 'warrior', Asia felt more like a puppy. A very cute, pure breed puppy with a lot of naivete. Sure, her chest barely went past a mid B cup to low C cup, but there was an innocence about her that was rather refreshing.

While Issei was a pervert, something about Asia made him want to befriend her as an _actual_ friend, and not because he was one of the Great Perverts of Kuoh Academy as they called themselves. Though he was absolutely going to keep her away from his friends...he knew at least one of them would try to take advantage of her because he was a total lolicon.

His mind did a complete stop when, shortly after the last bell rang, he noticed someone waiting outside on a _very_ expensive motorcycle. The guy looked like a delinquent and Issei wasn't the _only_ one to notice him.

He could already hear several girls squeal at the sight of the 'hottie', with another giving out a rough gage of his abilities. Apparently the guy was really good, because her glasses cracked a little.

It was around that time Ryuhime bothered to look outside, before she perked up.

"Vali! You're here early!" she said happily. "When did you get the motorcycle?"

"The man-whore said something about an impression and how it was about time I found a girlfriend," said Vali, rolling his eyes. He was faster when he flew. "I came to check on you and Asia."

Ryuhime beamed at him, before a wicked thought came to her. She made sure to leave a very nice hickey on his neck, thoroughly claiming him in front of a lot of disappointed females.

"Mine," she said possessively.

Vali was smirking rather wickedly at that. He loved it when his girlfriend got all possessive like that.

"So I'm thinking of dropping Asia off with Kyouya while we go have some fun."

Ever since Asia went active as a soft Sun type, and harmonized with Ryuhime, her status had changed from "hostage" to "bonded Element". It meant she had a lot more freedom and Ryuhime didn't have to find excuses to leave her with Kyouya for a few hours.

That being said, Ryuhime fully planned to find a decent Sun that could act as her Sun Guardian, since Asia was firmly a support specialist. Fon had the sneaking suspicion she might be strong enough to handle Reborn, who had no luck in that regard.


	8. Chapter 8

Reborn looked at Fon incredulous.

"You want me to see if it's possible to bond with your Sky, who just _happens_ to be a neutral party that has the blood of Vongola's Primo in her?" he repeated in disbelief. "If she has that sort of pedigree, how the hell is she considered neutral?"

"It's difficult to explain without a lot of alcohol and plenty of evidence of other factions that would give even the Vongola pause about pissing off. Right now Ryuhime is living in neutral territory that would force the Vongola to reach out to the joint owners before they could even get close to her, and even the Vindice have agreed the Vongola have no actual claim to her."

Ryuhime was firmly a member of the Dragon faction, which made her automatically neutral regardless of what the Vongola or Iemitsu tried to claim.

Fon turned rather serious.

"I might have something to help mitigate the effects of the curse on our bodies. Her current Sun is a support specialist who has a rather unique gift that was able to alleviate a lot of old damage done to the point I noticed a distinct difference after."

_That_ got Reborn's full attention. He had noticed Fon was a bit more lively and his strength had increased to the same level it had been roughly a decade ago. Considering even _he_ could feel the bone-deep weariness from the curse, the girl might be worth at least meeting.

"She's not going to try and force a bond, is she?" asked Reborn.

Fon shook his head.

"At most I get a bit of blackmail from the shock she'll give you once Ryuhime uses her own special talent. She's a battle nut, but she would never force another warrior into submission like that," said Fon.

Seeing he had gotten Reborn's curiosity piqued, Fon brought him to the dragon lands with the amulet Serafall had made to open a gate. It was mostly for Asia, Kyouya and any other human Element Ryuhime drew into her hoard.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at the magical circle, and his disbelief only went up when he realized he wasn't on Earth anymore.

"Where are we?" he said, trying not to freak out.

"Dragon territory, specifically the area Vali and Ryuhime have claimed as their own. It's not very big, compared to what some of the dragons have, but it's perfect for them since they aren't actual dragons," said Fon with a straight face. He watched with great amusement as Reborn inspected Ryuhime's official den. The expression on his face when he got a good look at the sky was hilarious.

"Papa!" said Ryuhime, scooping him up eagerly. Fon took the treatment with the ease of long practice. Even in his adult form, she would happily tackle him with a hug. Then she noticed the equally tiny body nearby. "Who's this?"

"Ryuhime, this is Reborn. He's a rather strong Sun I thought might suit you. Try not to break him too badly," said Fon, trying very hard not to cackle.

Ryuhime tilted her head, and looked at the pacifier.

"Does he have that same weird curse you do?"

"I did mention there were others that had it," said Fon.

Reborn was skeptical about the whole thing, but still submitted to Asia using her "flames" on him, even if the fact she had to channel it through two rings was a bit odd for him. Most people could barely keep _one_ ring alight, much less two at the same time.

He was not expecting his body to melt into a puddle of metaphorical goo as all sorts of aches and pains that he had long since learned to dismiss swiftly started to vanish. No, vanish wasn't the right word... they were being healed over?

He might be complete pants at the whole 'healing' aspect of Sun flames, but he never expected that a civilian would be able to have that much effect on someone like him!

Ryuhime's Sky flames wrapped around him just right, comforting without the usual cloying feeling of someone trying to force a connection that simply didn't exist.

He completely missed the mischievous grin on Ryuhime and Fon's faces when he crashed hard in Asia's lap.

_A few hours later..._

He woke up to the strangest sensation. It took him a few seconds to orient himself to where he was, but it took him far too long to realize he felt a lot stronger than he should have from a general healing session.

Reborn suddenly looked at his hands in absolute shock. He couldn't hide the gobsmacked expression on his face, or register the fact that several cameras were going off at the same time.

He had gotten so used to having a toddler's body that he had almost forgotten what his original size looked like. Seeing _adult_ hands instead of the tiny ones that made it difficult to use normal guns was something that made his normally quick mind crash. Hard.

Then he registered a smug Fon nearby and stared at the Storm.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" he half-demanded. He wondered at the fact that he could hear his actual voice and not the childish one he had to put up with for far too long.

"Ryuhime, would you mind demonstrating your ability?" asked Fon.

"Of course not Papa!" chirped the far too amused girl.

She sat him down on the table, where Fon sat easily on the edge. A strange clawed gauntlet appeared on her left hand, and he heard a deep voice crying _**"BOOST!".**_

Reborn watched in disbelief as she touched Fon's shoulder, and right before his eyes he literally saw the Storm rapidly grow back to his original size.

Fon sighed with relief, cracking his neck a little.

"If it wasn't for the power requirements and the fact the others would become far too annoying, I'd ask you to keep this up," he said.

"Fon. What the hell?" demanded Reborn.

Fon smirked at him, a wicked thing.

"Reborn, I would like you to meet my Sky...the current incarnation of the Red Dragon Emperor and owner of the Boosted Gear. As you can see, her ability causes some rather unusual side effects in people with our particular affliction," said Fon smugly.

Reborn stared at the girl intently.

"How long does this last?"

"Well I put a lot into the boost I gave you...so about six hours? Maybe six and a half?" she said after a moment. "I gave him about four, and as long as you don't use your flames you should be able to maintain it for that long."

"Fon...you had better start talking," said Reborn.

He wanted a proper explanation, but at least now he was seriously considering joining Ryuhime's group as a permanent member, rather than dismissing it like he had originally.

A chance to have his actual body back, even for short periods? Where did he sign up?

* * *

_A few days later..._

Reborn was still in shock that he harmonized so easily with the dragon princess. But not so much that he let up on their tutoring sessions, which were half sparring, half hammering in facts Ryuhime _should_ have learned years ago but never did because she spent most of her life living as a dragon.

He found the lessons very fun indeed, especially when he realized Ryuhime actually _listened_ to the point her grades had shot up to noticeable levels since she started school.

She still wasn't very good at pretending to be human, but at least she was quickly becoming educated.

Besides, the chaos to be had from her hilarious misunderstandings to basic human interaction never failed to amuse him, so he saw no reason to actually correct it.

It was almost a shame the yearly meeting between Arcobaleno was coming up.

Though the reactions couldn't have been better if Reborn had plotted the chaos himself.

"You have a Sky?!" Colonello blurted out, without realizing it.

Reborn shot at him, but the damage was done.

"As a matter of fact, I do. And amusingly enough, Fon introduced me to his," said Reborn smugly.

Needless to say they didn't get anything done, outside of sparking intense interest in who Fon and Reborn's Sky was...

* * *

With the revelation that Ryuhime could overpower the curse, however temporarily, Reborn was rather quick to leave Italy once Dino's training was over in order to move to Kuoh. While Ryuhime didn't technically_ live_ in Kuoh, it did have an access point to her lair and it was firmly considered neutral ground by anyone with any brains in the mafia.

Meaning the Vongola couldn't harass him with impunity without pissing off the Three Factions. Sure, it meant having to put up with Azazel more often, but that was a small price to pay.

Said overgrown crow _still_ hadn't stopped laughing about the fact that Ryuhime managed to bond with his wayward son. It was a fact Reborn didn't particularly like being reminded about, as he kept himself to human limitations since they were more interesting than dealing with the idiots in the Fallen faction. It was only the fact he was half-human that the curse had even attached itself to him in the first place!

Reborn's eyes glinted with wickedness as he abused the boost Ryuhime gave him to walk confidently into the classroom in his adult form.

"Hello class. I'm going to be your new math teacher, Reboyama-sensei."

Every girl there who liked guys immediately developed a massive crush on the new teacher. Unlike the other drab men who taught, Reboyama was handsome as hell and had the aura of a bad-boy who knew how to please women.

The only reason he picked this class was due to Ryuhime's presence. After all, it wouldn't do for his Sky to have less than perfect grades.

By the end of the week, "Reboyama-sensei" was loved by the girls and dreaded by the less than scholastically inclined because the principal had given him permission to use the weaker students as target practice so long as their grades improved and he didn't use _actual_ bullets. Reborn made it very clear to all the students in the school that he wouldn't date any of them unless they were A) of _legal _adult age and B) had already graduated.

Once they had their diploma and were no longer students of the school, then they were considered full adults and were responsible for their own actions. It meant that legally, the parents couldn't come after his ass for sleeping with their children because he wasn't their teacher any more. It was a moral gray area, but he preferred not to deal with the cops any more than he could help it.

That being said, Reborn had already insured that the infamous "Perverted Trio" knew not to fuck with him. If he busted them on their ridiculous attempts to peep on the girls, then they had learned to kiss their asses goodbye. After all, the principal's only restriction to Reborn's strange disciplinary methods were that he didn't kill anyone and he at least used the opportunity to drill some education into the heads of anyone who irritated him.

(His reputation among the females of the school shot up even further when they saw him using the Perverted Trio as target practice while throwing out insanely hard math questions. If they answered correctly, then the 'detention time' would shorten by a minute. If they answered wrong, then it was extended and they were thrown into an extra 'punishment' game which was often rather humiliating and involved Reborn getting quite a bit of blackmail on them.)

So it was with considerable annoyance when he was contacted by the Vongola.

* * *

_In the Iron Fort_

"So you're saying that this girl went missing about ten or more years ago. Why do you need me then?"

"I have lost three of my sons. Two were killed and the other is still under house arrest. In light of this, recent events have lead me to believe that there may be a force conspiring to end my bloodline or my famiglia entirely through strife. I fear that someone may attempt to use the lost line of the Primo to destroy the Vongola, or worse, control it through the shadows using a puppet of his bloodline," said Timoteo.

Reborn had to admit, if he hadn't known about Ryuhime before that _might_ have worried him. However he knew Ryuhime had _zero_ interest in the mafia and even less inclination to fall under Vongola control. And right now she was considerably more valuable as a neutral party between the Three Factions then as a potential candidate for Decima.

If the Vongola attempted to reclaim their lost 'heir', it would only result in a blood bath.

For their side.

Fortunately, since his Sky was known as part of the Three factions, he had options.

"Unfortunately it would be impossible for me to interfere in this matter. Not only am I not part of the Vongola, but I've recently found my Sky who is part of the Three Factions. She is not particularly interested in the Cosa Nostra, and would be less than pleased if I were to interfere in what could only be classed as an internal problem for the Vongola."

Dead silence.

"I must have misheard you. Did you say that you have a _Sky_?"

Reborn was too strong, and there was always some unknown barrier keeping him from harmonizing with anyone. Even Luce, the original Arcobaleno that tricked them into taking on the curse, could not harmonize with him. It had become an accepted _fact_ that no one would be able to match the strongest Sun that ever existed.

So for him to claim he had a Sky (and upon careful prodding he discovered Reborn _did_ read as a bonded Guardian), meant that whoever held the other end of his bond had the power and potential to make even the Vongola very, very nervous.

The Vongola could ill-afford to let such a rival join another famiglia. They would have to either 'convince' them to join the Vongola or find a way to snuff them out before anyone else discovered them.

Reborn left the office, feeling smug about the sheer amount of chaos he had created.

He also made a call to Viper once he was well away from the Iron Fort.

"Hey Viper... I may have an opportunity for you to get your Sky back _and_ piss off the Ninth generation for all the crap they've put you through since the coup..."

A wicked grin filled his face. He knew he had the miser's attention now.

Besides, he had the feeling Ryuhime would adopt Xanxus as a 'big brother' if he had read her personality right. If anyone understood the Wrath's mindset, it would be a child raised among dragons.


	9. Chapter 9

When Xanxus first woke up, the first thing he felt was rage, confusion and hurt.

Timoteo hadn't even _tried_ to explain himself. Hadn't given him the decency of telling him the truth.

Instead the old bastard had frozen him in time for seven years and left him there to be forgotten about until he needed Viper's help and the miser refused to do so unless Xanxus was returned to them alive.

Which was why he was now in an isolated room, with his Sun fussing over him trying to treat extensive frost bite...among other things.

It was a miracle he was still sane with how much damage had been done and the pain he was in.

It took him a few moments to understand what the miser-trash was saying.

"The Three factions? You mean Devils, Fallen and the Angels? What of them?" asked Xanxus confused and irritated at the question.

"There is a healer that belongs to a neutral Sky that could fix up the worst of the damage and return you to Quality standards much faster than normal. However there is one small issue, which happens to be related to why Nono was willing to release you from the ice in the first place."

Seeing they had Xanxus' full attention, Viper told him the truth.

"The healer's Sky happens to be the missing daughter of Iemitsu Sawada, and she recently harmonized with Reborn. After a near miss with Federico, Nono finally realized someone was specifically gunning for his sons and wants to bring her back to the fold for insurance. The problem is that she's been missing for over a decade...until recently anyway."

Xanxus was in shock...even the Varia had been pulled off other contracts to find that kid and never came up with single clue what happened. And yet she had shown up again after managing to bond with the likes of Reborn.

No wonder the old fucker was nervous! He was likely worried the girl would create a famiglia of her own, since she had no ties to the Vongola save for some paltry blood connection! The sort of power required to draw Reborn in and harmonize was more than any other Sky had access to! Not even that bitch Luce (he was mostly basing his disdain from Viper's descriptions) had been able to pull that off!

"What's the catch?"

"The catch is that the Three Factions would prefer the girl stay a neutral party between them and would get really pissed off if the Vongola attempted to bring her back. And that's before the girl's boyfriend or the girl in question get involved. From what I was told, if they tried to force the issue it would be a bloodbath on the Vongola's side, rather than the other way around," said Viper bluntly. "However she has no animosity towards the Varia, so there's a chance she would let her secondary Sun heal your injuries."

"What makes you think she would be willing to help?"

"From the limited information Fon told us about her, she's more likely to claim you as an older brother figure once you two properly meet."

Xanxus...had to blink at that comment. What could the miser-trash mean by _that_?

* * *

As predicted, within five minutes of meeting Xanxus the odd Sky Ryuhime practically claimed him as an older brother figure. Even _Vali_ liked him, which said a lot. The most mystifying thing was that almost immediately upon visiting the official apartment of the couple in order to meet Asia, Xanxus_ relaxed_ completely. As if he felt safe and secure there in a way Sky flames couldn't pull off.

Xanxus did not get along well with others. If anything he tolerated being around other Skies, though some made him want to rip their heads off for daring to enter his territory.

It was a complete mystery to everyone what was putting Xanxus at ease.

At least until Ddraig spoke up.

"_**I wasn't expecting the son of my previous wielder to show up like this."**_

Dead silence.

"Did you just say the _son_ of the previous Red Dragon Emperor?" said Vali incredulous.

Ryuhime eyed Xanxus for a moment, before brightening when she realized his Flame signature bore a strong resemblance to Ddraig. Which meant that Xanxus could technically be considered her big brother in a way.

"Is that why Boss acts like a dragon?" asked Squalo.

"_**The last idiot who had me thought it was a **_**brilliant****_ idea to sacrifice his dick in order to make it more like a dragon... likely under some belief that it would make it more impressive. Soon after he was killed off by the Fallen because he couldn't adjust to the change in his mating instincts and he pissed her off when he couldn't take a hint. However I do recall he tried to slate the urge by using prostitutes and I doubt that any human contraceptive would have helped prevent a pregnancy,"_ **said Ddraig. You could practically feel the eye-roll when he described what his previous user had done to his genitals.

The blond storm who felt like royalty eyed Xanxus with interest.

"Ushishishi...are you telling us that the Boss is technically half-dragon?"

"_**It's a distinct possibility. His signature closely resembles mine because of that idiot's actions, so any dragon that comes near him would assume he was born of my bloodline. There is a chance he might be able to turn into a dragon if he put his mind to it, but it would cause permanent side effects and he would never be fully human again,"**_ said Ddraig.

"Voi...the boss is already a dragon in human form. What sort of side effects are we talking about?" asked Squalo.

"_**A strong preference for meat, alcohol, a rather worrying tendency towards having territorial instincts and an increased fire-resistance. The more of his dragon blood he awakens, the more pronounced the changes will become. Oh, and it would be necessary to develop a large hoard and a dwelling for him to lord over without question."**_

Dead silence.

Squalo looked at Lussuria, who looked more amused than anything.

"Ddraig, was it? What would happen if someone with Sky flames were to attempt to order Boss-honey about?" asked Lussuria. From the sound of it, the dragon bloodline in Xanxus had _already_ awakened, but he had no training in how to use it properly.

"_**It would only end badly. Dragons are apex predators so the idea of **_**submitting****_ to a weaker species would grate against our instincts. Sharing a den with them would only work temporarily, however once puberty hits and they reach the mating age they would be highly likely to lash out,"_** said Albion.

Squalo twitched.

"You mean to tell me that fucking coup was caused by the Boss' dragon instincts lashing out at having to listen to Nono's bullshit and Sawada's crap about how he's supposed to be grateful to the Vongola?!"

Vali looked at Xanxus seriously.

"Did your instincts settle down once you took over the Varia and became their unofficial king?"

Xanxus blinked.

"Once everyone got it in their heads that I was the new Varia Boss, a lot of my migraines and stress seemed to drop to nothing," said Xanxus. "Then I found out the fucker had lied about being my father and didn't have the decency to tell me after raising me to be another heir of the Vongola and I just lost it."

"So why did you come here anyway?" asked Vali.

"Nono had Boss on ice for seven years. Viper heard you have a competent healer as one of your Guardians, and we were hoping you were at least impartial enough to the Varia to help him," said Lussuria.

"What do you think Asia?" asked Ryuhime.

"I can try. I've never healed over injuries that old before."

"If you could deal with even a fraction of the pain and stiffness, that would be enough. I just want to be back to Quality standards before the old man learns I found you first," said Xanxus. Something about the blond made him curb the worst of his language and behave.

Asia summoned her Sacred Gear...(and her wings)...once Ryuhime nodded.

Xanxus couldn't help his jaw dropping from shock at seeing a literal _angel_ in front of him.

"Voi...you have an _angel_ as your secondary Sun Guardian?!" said Squalo.

Vali looked at Asia with interest.

"When did Micheal convert her?"

"Last week. Officially she's their envoy for the only neutral party acceptable between the Three factions and the one in charge of the church in Kuoh."

Asia concentrated on healing Xanxus...and there was a lot of damage done. It was a miracle he would make a mostly full recovery from his ordeal.

"How exactly did you end up as a neutral party between the Three Factions?" asked Viper.

Fon looked irritable about that.

"I introduced her to Azazel and Vali, and things spiraled from there because she was only surviving in the dragon lands. _Someone_ had to reintroduce her to humans. Since she would never fit in as an Angel and no sane person would want her to join a peerage, Azazel suggested she act as a neutral party between the three groups since she wouldn't automatically be biased and was strong enough to handle anyone having a pissing contest. Considering the stalemate between them since the war, the Devils and the Angels agreed that it might be better to have an outside opinion available during disputes," said Fon.

"She would have been wasted as a mafia boss," said Reborn. "The lack of decent Skies and the sheer arrogance of the Vongola would have ruined her full potential."

Xanxus didn't dispute that one bit. Most female Skies were pressured to marry early to hopefully pop out more Sky brats. And forget about her Guardians...all three of his brothers had suck-ups following them pretending to be bonded.

To say nothing of the crap Iemitsu called training. Xanxus had _seen_ the man's apprentice and that kid had either lost touch with reality entirely or had been openly brainwashed into believing that fucker Sawada was the second coming of Christ!

It took him a moment to realize that the aches and pains of being frozen were all melting away along with the stress that had built up.

Once the light faded, and Asia sat primly with her wings folded neatly behind her, Xanxus made a fist.

It was as if he hadn't spent the last seven years frozen in an ice cube, captured in stasis.

Lussuria checked him over and was delighted to find that their Sky was doing far better than even they could have hoped for.

"Voi...what do we owe you?" asked Squalo, his expression full of relief.

"Just keep the Vongola off our ass until Ryuhime is officially acknowledged as the neutral arbiter of the Moonlit World. They won't be able to force her to join their famiglia if the Vindice know that she's already claimed by someone stronger than a human organization," said Fon promptly.

"Deal," said Xanxus.

"So big brother...how would you like the ability to hide from the Vongola without them realizing that you're in another realm entirely, while still being able to do your job?" chirped Ryuhime wickedly.

"Big brother?" said Xanxus amused. Looks like Viper had hit_ that_ nail on the head.

"Well you are of Ddraig's human bloodline, so that technically makes you family," chirped Ryuhime. "Besides, you smell more dragon than human so clearly your bloodline kicked in early enough that you developed all the right instincts. Vali tries, but he still needs Albion's help to understand a dragon's prerogative for hoarding and claiming territory."

It would be nice to have _someone_ clarify all the instincts and urges he had. It had taken him years to figure out what drove him to do certain things that resulted in a harsh reprimand from the old fucker or Sawada.

"Voi...so how do we make sure Nono and his Guardians can't harass Boss again?" asked Squalo.

"With a dragon's gate," said Vali. "Anyone of sufficient power can pull it off, and you can literally come here within seconds and then back to Italy just as quickly so long as you know what you're doing."

"Rather hard to harass someone or make demands on _your_ territory if they can't find you and you leave your cell phone behind," said Ryuhime wickedly.

The impish gleam in Xanxus' eyes made it clear he was all for _that_ idea. After all, the Vongola don couldn't piss him off if he couldn't contact him.

Odds were that the men would be _more_ than happy to burn any demands made by Nono and give him fair warning if the old man or his Guardians came around.

Xanxus found it incredibly relaxing to be around Ryuhime and Vali. While they all had dragon instincts, it was strangely easy to get along since their territories didn't clash and they showed him more respect than he had ever gotten in the Cosa Nostra.

On an unrelated note, Xanxus soon became a _very_ familiar figure around Kuoh. The other officers still hadn't stopped teasing Belphegor because Ryuhime kidnapped him since he was an _actual _prince.

They spent most of that weekend watching random anime and playing games before Xanxus came to pick him up, citing that Belphegor was part of _his_ hoard and he wanted him back.

(Did not stop the blond prince from showing intense interest in the dragon princess.)


End file.
